


Tentative Happiness

by allyouneediskarma



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Aiming for a slowburn, Anxiety, Attempt at Humor, Bakery and Coffee Shop, F/F, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Post-Undertale Pacifist Route, loners and goners
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-02-22
Updated: 2017-08-13
Packaged: 2018-09-26 06:15:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 23,918
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9871124
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/allyouneediskarma/pseuds/allyouneediskarma
Summary: "heya""Good morning may I help you?""yeah, i'd like a latte""Right away, your name is?""you could call me second best"A tall handsome skeleton breaks your heart, but don't worry he will help you settle for second best.





	1. The grim reaper wears khakis

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Just Beachy](https://archiveofourown.org/works/6599071) by [echoflowertea](https://archiveofourown.org/users/echoflowertea/pseuds/echoflowertea). 



> wowie you are reading this fanfic. Thank you for giving it a chance.

The phone wouldn't stop ringing.

If you could only focus!  
Just answer the phone, and then take care of the orders. Do it properly and fast… 

"Shit!" You nearly screamed as hot coffee poured over your arm.

You were such an _idiot._

"_________! It's the third time this week!" Your coworker rushed to help you.

"I'm sorry Becky."

"No, no, don't you dare ________," she started to clean the coffee off the counter. "I don't want you to apologize, I want you to be careful."

She placed a paw over your recently burned skin. You whimpered to the touch.

"I don't want to do this shit everyday ________." She huffed.

You felt a stinging sensation followed by relief. You had become familiar with the tingling of her healing magic.

"I'm so sorry, I know you get tired after using your magic so much and…" You were only a burden weren't you? You didn't even want to look at the long line of costumers waiting.

"It's not that! I just don't want you to get hurt all the time…" she smiled at the ground.

"Thank you Becky," you smiled too. "I…"

"Excuse me? Can I get my latte now? It's been 15 minutes." A young lady interrupted while she tapped her fingers on the counter.

The phone wouldn't stop ringing, and you didn't want to answer.

"______? Can you please unplug it? We are not even taking orders for delivery today." Becky said as she hurried to the brewer.

It was rush hour. Everybody needed their caffeine dosage in order to function properly and you two were buried in orders.

Normally it was not that hard to cope with the flood of costumers, but your boss was on vacation. She rarely took more than a week, yet this time she decided to take half a month.  
Without her, it was almost impossible to deal with the amount of customers coming and going all over the place.  
And unfortunately, you even had to suspend the delivery service.  
Oh boy, boss was not going to be happy about it.

Monster owned places had actually become really popular in the past year, so now people were crazy about having magic infused beverages. People believed drinking such things would help stop aging, lose weight or even work as an aphrodisiac. You knew it was all bullshit, but it helped the business thrive and you were happy for monster kin.

That's why now you had a crowd ordering and in a hurry. You knew you needed to stop complaining and focus.

You and Becky teamed up to make the orders, but you were having a really hard time remembering the order and using the new espresso machine.

The coffee shop was mostly filled with of college students, and each one of them wanted something outrageously different. You liked it better when the shop was full of business men that just wanted plain Americano for the office.  
Now you had to deal with a young man that demanded a tall iced coffee without sugar, but sweetened with agave syrup and caramel, additionally topped with coconut cream foam and chocolate shavings.

God helped you.

"Do you want me to help?" Becky offered.

"No," the young man exclaimed with a menacing glare. "I don't want any monster touching my food."

"It's fine sir, your order is almost ready," you smiled apologetically towards Becky. She seemed incredibly uncomfortable.

When you where done you handed the cup to him and started taking the order of the next person in line.

"Ugh, disgusting! I told you to put caramel in this for a reason! You forgot it, and now it tastes like shit." He scrunched his face and dumped his cup in the nearest bin.

You flinched and tried hard to control your sweaty palms and shaking hands.

  
You were such an _idiot._

 

* * *

 

Aside from the little incident, the rush hour came and went by without any casualties.

"It's Friday, and rush hour is over, so we will have a pretty relaxed rest of the day." Becky said looking into a small mirror and fixing her eyelashes.  
She always did that after she finished a huge round of costumers.You had always liked the way her long ears bounced when she talked, she reminded you of a bunny.

The relief of the rush hour being over washed away rapidly, leaving a dread sensation. You had screwed up, you always did.

"You did fine. Don't worry okay?" she smiled reassuringly at you. She just knew you were blaming yourself for the incident.  
You really did not want to let her down. You were lucky to be hired, and it was all thanks to her.

Oh boy, this job was the best ting that had happened to you in a long, long time.

"I'm actually surprised that nasty dude trashed his coffee after specifically requesting you to make it." Becky said wiping away the milk splatters over one of the tables.

You laughed softly "Yeah, the jerk comes into a monster owned business and then asks the only human to make him coffee…" you huffed.

"And then he throws it in the trash, don't forget that part." Becky was visibly relaxed now.

"After he paid for it." You said finally laughing.

"You should have written _Mr. Asshole_ on his cup." Becky said cheerfully.

You both laughed.

Those kinds of incidents were not uncommon. Some humans still did not want anything to do with monsters.

"See? I even got you to laugh today! Lucky me." Becky chanted.

You smiled sincerely. It was Friday, your hands smelled like coffee and life was good.

 

* * *

 

 

"Kind of a boring day isn't it? Do you want to watch TV in the back?" Becky asked while she fixed her ribbon, pulling her fluffy ears into a pony tail.

"Uh, Becky?" You didn't know if you really wanted to say what you were about to say.

"Yeah?"

"Hum, today is the inauguration of the film festival isn't it? Do you want to leave early? "

"No way! You have never closed on your own, you need to…" she sounded kind of distressed, but you interrupter her.

"I need to empty and clean the espresso machines, wash the dishes, and swipe the floor. Remember we do not need to do the inventory until boss returns." Why was she so hesitant? Were you that unreliable?  

"Are you sure?" she insisted.

"You really stuck up your neck for me today, and well… you actually do that every day. Don't think I didn't notice you handing me the easiest orders," you couldn't look her in the eye. "I just want to return the favor for once, would you allow me? Even though you have it harder than I do, you still help me. You have been so kind since I got in here…" your voice was shaky and your hands were sweaty.

"That's what friends are for. You are not a burden, we are a team!" she put her paw on your shoulder.  

"Thank you" you managed to say.

"Will you be okay?" she asked for the last time while she took off her purple apron.

"I will call you in anything comes up." You smiled and felt relieved because you actually got to do something nice for her, even if it was just a small thing.

 

* * *

 

You were repeating over and over again the scene with the man. You dreaded that kind of confrontation. If you hadn't screwed up the order Becky wouldn't have had to deal with that crap.

Why were you even working there anymore?  
You screwed up over and over again.  
You were such an idiot.

But at least you could let her have a free Friday night to hang out with friends.  
  
You took a deep breath. You were lucky to be able to work, and to live.  
  
You zoned out as you swept the floor.

"It's Friday and its good." You muttered to yourself.

"YES HUMAN I DO AGREE THAT IS GOOD, A VERY GOOD FRIDAY INDEED." Uttered an obnoxiously loud voice behind you.

You dropped your broom and turned around to greet the costumer.  

"Can I help y…" you couldn't finish the sentence.

Oh good, were you hallucinating?  
Did you hit your head? If so. How hard?

The fucking grim reaper was there, standing on the fucking door.

Literal death was standing on the door of the café you worked in.

Was death wearing _khakis_?  

Strangely you were not scared.  
You took it pretty calm.

"So it's time huh? Will it hurt?" you asked with a faint smile on your face.

"HUMAN???" the tall skeleton looked at you quizzically.

"I mean, when you take my soul…" you said firmly, but still looking at the ground.

"WHAT?? HUMAN?? THESE ROMANTIC ADVANCES ARE TOO FORWARD HUMAN. NEVERTHELESS I ADMIRE YOUR BOLDNESS. IT IS JUST NATURAL THAT YOU ARE ATTRACTED TO ME, BUT THIS IS GOING TOO FAST!" the skeleton seemed to be flustered (?).

You were utterly confused.

"YOU MUST KNOW I AM A MONSTER WITH VERY HIGH STANDARDS." He stated.  

"What? A monster? Are you serious?" you asked as you approached him.

"I AM NOT SERIOUS I AM THE GREAT PAPYRUS! COULDN'T YOU TELL?? I THOUGHT THAT WAS THE REASON YOU HAD AN INSTANT INFATUATION FOR ME, HUMAN!"

"No way! I work around monsters all day! You do not look like one!"

"WELL THAT IS BECAUSE I AM A SPECIAL KIND OF MONSTER." He answered.

"Oh my god," you snorted. You had just embarrassed yourself in front of an actual costumer with your childish ideas! "I was about to close, but I can still make you a cup of coffee would you like that?"

"I WOULD RATHER SOME TEA, IT'S HEALTHIER, UNLESS YOU HAVE SPAGETTI FLAVORED COFFEE…"

You boiled some water and smiled nervously, still embarrassed about the misunderstood.

You heard the bell on the front door ringing again.

"I'm sorry, we are closed now!" you hurried to say.

"P-Papyrus? A-are you done with the pur-purchase?" a small lizard monster said entered the shop.

"Oh, are you friends with this gentleman?" you inquired.

"Y-yes! He delayed so I-I came to see what happened"

"OH ALPHYS YOU WON'T BELIEVE WHAT JUST HAPPENED!" he chanted proudly, telling the small monster about you having a crush on him and asking him to take your soul.

The small monster burst out in a cute laughter and you just wanted to fall in a hole.  

"No, Papyrus…it's not like that. Some human myth states that when humans die, a skeletal figure dressed in robes will come collect their soul." The small monster spoke without hesitation this time.

 "I mean I did not use to believe that, but now…You guys just sprung out of the ground and suddenly magic shit is real and well…you must understand my silly response…" you expected them to laugh scornfully. But they didn't.

"HUMAN YOU MUST HAVE BEEN SO SCARED! BUT AT THE SAME TIME IT IS SO GREAT THAT YOU HUMANS GET TO BE PICKED UP BY A COOL SKELETON."

"You are the first skeleton monster I met, if I offended you…"

"NOT AT ALL HUMAN! WE STILL HAVE NOT INTRODUCED OURSELVES PROPERLY. I AM THE GREAT PAPYRUS AND SHE IS ALPHYS." You were mesmerized by his happy expression, and did not felt the urge to apologize anymore. He even seemed to be having a good time with you and your dumb explanations.

"Nice to meet you too! I'm _________. " You said maybe a little too high pitched.

"YOU SEE HUMAN, I AM SO VERY GLAD I GOT TO KNOW ABOUT SOME OF YOUR FAMOUS SKELETON MEN."

You got them both tea and they insisted for you to sit with them.

"I am glad too, because a human is working in a monster owned coffee shop." Alphys said warmly.

"Oh guys… you are really nice. I am lucky indeed to be working here." You started to drift off to think about the time you got interviewed, but you were interrupted.

"OH HUMAN, LOOK AT THE TIME! IT'S GETTING LATE AND WE MUST GO NOW."

"W-wait, is it okay if we exchange p-phone numbers? I really liked the tea, and m-maybe we can throw a tea party? It's m-my w-wife's birthday soon." She seemed really excited because of that.

You exchanged phone numbers.

Before they left Papyrus approached to you.

"HUMAN! LET ME GIVE YOU A PIECE OF ADVICE AS GREAT AS ME: YOU COULD USE SOME MORE SUBTLETY IN YOUR ROMANTIC APPROACHES. HERE, HAVE THIS."

He handed you a magazine? A book?

_20 Step Guide to get the ~~man~~ monster of your dreams_

The word 'man' was crossed out with a huge red marker and instead the word 'monster' had been written.

"YOU CAN'T GO LIKE THAT OFFERING YOUR SOUL TO ANYONE HUMAN! YOU ARE LUCKY THAT I AM A VERY GREAT SKELETON AND A GETLESKELETON, AUDIBLE WINK."

You couldn't even answer properly because Papyrus stormed out of the room dragging Alphys with him.

Oh boy.

You sighed again. The whole shop smelled like peppermint tea and life was _good._


	2. All our knowledge begins with experience

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wowie, so many hits, so many kudos and such kind comments. Thank you for giving this story a chance!

"So you just told him to take your soul?" Becky howled with laughter after you tried your best to explain her the situation you got yourself into last night.

"Well, in my defense…I thought I was about to die!"  You made an effort to sound distressed, but the situation had been so ridiculous you almost wanted to laugh.

"I thought you didn't believe that kind of things!"

"Well I don't! But I got scared! I literally thought he came for me!" At least Papyrus was cool about it. He mistook your astonishment and stupid reaction for romantic advances.  

"Oh dear. Let me put it like this: You just did the human equivalent of asking him to fuck you." Becky managed to stress uncomfortably the last part.

"Oh my god, don't say it like that!" You flustered at the thought of you and Papyrus together. Of course you knew souls were incredibly important for monster community, but you didn't even know that he was a monster.

"You literally did." Becky was teasing and laughing but she got serious all of a sudden, "you know… souls are a pretty _personal_ thing…"

"I know!" You hurried to say, "But I didn't even know he was a monster!"

"Well, yeah that makes sense. I mean, skeletons are quite unique monsters" Becky was already baking cinnamon bunnies, and you still were nor fully awake. "Anyway, I don't think he was offended, Papyrus is pretty _chill_ " she chuckled.

"Wait a minute, how did you know it was Papyrus?"  

"Most monsters know each other, so I knew it had to be him the minute you started describing his voice. Plus, we actually lived in the same town" Becky said with a wink.  

"No way! You never told me?" You had been working on the coffee shop for a while but you were too awkward to ask her about her past in the underground. You figured it would be a painful memory. 

"You never asked" Becky said as she handed you the freshly glazed cinnamon bunnies for you to place them on the counter, "Isn't he cute?"

"Hum" You did not wanted to answer that. Of course he was, but not just _cute_ ; he seemed to be selfless and patient and just…plain good. You had a thing for tall people, and oh boy was he tall.

"You are flustered." She laughed again.

"Can I tell you something? I was expecting him to get super upset and uncomfortable you know?" you looked into the ground, "Of all people that could have broke monster etiquette, it had to be me. I fucking work in a monster coffee shop" you laughed nervously trying to soothe the words you had blurted out.

Had you said too much? Nevertheless, you felt the urge to continue.

"He insisted in listening to my dumb explanation, his friend even helped me explain myself. I don't know…I felt relieved. It was really nice."

Becky was quiet for a moment, and then she smiled. "Thank you for sharing your adventures with me," Becky said in a quiet voice. "You barely tell me anything about you; it's good to get to know you."

She smiled sweetly, just as sweetly as the day you met her.

 

* * *

 

"Time to open." you muttered with a smile, while you were chatting Becky had already settled the table covers and prepared the first batch of espresso.

You opened the door and turned around the sign from 'Closed' to 'Open'.

You heard a familiar voice behind you. "HELLO HUMAN! I AM BACK FROM MY MORNING JOG AND YOU SEEM TO BE ALREADY OPENING." Papyrus was wearing a crop top with the words 'Jog boy' written on it. You were amazed by the length of his legs; the shorts he was wearing barely covered anything. You tried your best not to stare.  

"Y-yeah we open pretty early on Saturdays" you stuttered.

"MAY I REQUEST SOME MORE TEA?"

"Sure thing! Come on in! Be our guest. What would you like?" You said gesturing for him to enter the door.

"MAY I REQUEST GOLDEN FLOWER TEA?" He chose the closest seat to the counter and bounced impatiently following you with his eyes.

"Right away!" You were excited to see him again. You wish you were a morning person like him, he was beaming! You could almost see the sunshine in his eyes.

You smiled as Becky approached.

"OH BECKY! I HAD SEEN YOU SINCE V-DAY! I THOUGHT YOU WERE WORKING WITH GRILLBY'S YOU KNOW SINCE YOU…"

Becky interrupted unceremoniously "No Papyrus, I won't be working there. Not anymore" She was clearly uncomfortable.

Who the hell was Grilby's? And what the heck was V-Day?  Papyrus changed the topic nervously as they continued to chit-chat.

You tried to focus because this was the first order of the day, so you had to make it right.  
You knew brewing Golden flower tea was an art. The water needed to reach the perfect balance in temperature. If the water was too cold the tea would be so sweet it would be undrinkable. If the water was too hot, it would be bitter.  
As more costumers entered Becky started taking orders. You glanced at her as the water boiled and noticed beautiful colors leaving her palms. She touched the brim of the glass and the liquid became colorful and sparkling.  
You never ceased to be amazed by the way she infused beverages with magic.

You checked on Papyrus as you helped Becky with the blending bit so she wouldn't have to struggle with all of the orders.

Papyrus was entertaining himself with the newspaper. He was solving the puzzle section.

He did the Sudoku section first, and he solved the whole thing in less than a minute!  
You wondered if he was just writing random numbers.  
Then he moved to the crossword bit.

He seemed really into it, his face was glowing and his bone-brows (?) were furrowed in concentration. He looked really handsome when he smiled. Happiness just suited him.  

"CROSSWORDS ARE USUALLY EASY BUT THIS TIME I MAY REQUIRE SOME ASSISTANCE HUMAN"

You went to his table, and oh boy…was he wearing cologne?

"What are you having trouble with?" You asked fondly.

"WELL HUM DO YOU KNOW A WORD THAT MEANS AN ABILITY TO DO THINGS THAT NEED A LOT OF PHYSICAL OR MENTAL EFFORT." He tried to sound cool, but he seemed to be reluctant to ask for help.

You were more than happy to help. "Does the word 'Strength' fits?"

"WOWIE! YOU ARE VERY GOOD AT THIS HUMAN!"

He smiled and you mimicked him.

"NEXT ONE! THE DEFINITION IF THE WORD IS: ONE WHO LIKES OTHER PEOPLE A LOT AND ALWAYS WANTS TO HELP THEM."

You returned to the counter, and as Becky finished the smoothies you handed them to the two girls that ordered them.

"I TRIED TO WRITE MY NAME BUT IT DOESN'T FIT!"

You giggled, could he get any cuter? "I think you need an adjective" You said as you approached to his table again. "Maybe the word you need is 'Kind'. Does it fit?"

"NO, IT NEEDS MORE LETTERS" He scratched his skull, his hand were covered by thin white gloves.

You were having trouble with that one, but you knew the answer the moment you glanced at Papyrus again, "Try with 'Kind-hearted' then."

"HUMAN YOU ARE THE BESTEST CROSSWORD SOLVER EVER!" He stated as he wrote the answer messily on the newspaper.

"Damn, I forgot the tea." You hurried to the brewer and poured him a brimming cup with his name written in a funny font with a smiley face next to it, "Here! All done"

"THANKS ________." Your hand touched when you handed him his cup, and you could feel they were strong and warm.

He pronounced your name softly, and you liked it. "It's on the house, so don't worry and enjoy it."

"YOU ARE VERY KIND ________."

He drank his tea in silence and kept focused in the newspaper. It was Saturday, and there was no rush hour so you could actually spend a little bit of time chatting with Papyrus and reading the comic section.

You were solving puzzles and laughing all morning. 

  "I HAD A LOT OF FUN WITH YOU TODAY HUMAN!" He announced as he prepared to leave.

"Do you want me to put your cup in the trash for you?" You asked before he left.

"WHY WOULD I WANT TO DO THAT? YOU DREW A SMILEY FACE NEXT TO MY NAME! I WILL CHERRISH IT"

You flustered. You really liked him.

"HUMAN? I WAS THINKING, DO YOU WANT TO MEET FOR A DATE NEXT FRIDAY?"

Wow, that came out of nowhere. You heard Becky chuckling in the back.

"I'd love to Papyrus." You blurted out maybe a little bit too quickly. 

"SEE YOU LATER, DON’T FORGET TO STUDY THE MANUAL I GAVE YOU!" He started to spin in a weird patter as he left the store. Did he always do that?

You picked up the newspaper he had been reading. He missed a spot on the crossword, the definition of the missing word was: Accomplishment of a virtuous life. Blossoming. A man's last end. A soul's desire.

You didn't have a clue.

You checked the Sudoku. He had solved it correctly.  

 

* * *

 

 

"Did he left already?" Becky inquired a few minutes later.

"Yeah he did." You answered matter-of-factly.

"Oh. My. God. He actually asked you out. Girl you are getting popular" Becky sounded really excited.

"Come on…it's just a hang out…isn't it?" You tried to say it with a flat expression, but you couldn't help the smirk on your face.

"Well, he said 'Date' didn't he?" She said elbowing you as she cleaned the counter.

"You've got a point" You said as you poured the left over Golden Flower tea in a cup for you.

It was bitter, really bitter. You had messed up again, but he had drunk it without complaint. How many times were you going to fuck it up? Why didn't he say something? Why were you so useless?  
First you insult him and now you ruin his morning by forcing him to have your nasty tea. You knew that kind of tea was representative of monster culture. What would he think of you? That you didn't respect his culture enough to pay attention to the preparation of its food? 

"Becky, my tea is bitter…again." you announced, with a sigh.

"You will get it right the next time." She glanced at you apologetically.

Should you apologize to him?

You: I know the tea wasn't tasty. I'm so sorry.

You noticed he didn't saved himself as Papyrus but as 'coolskeleton95'.

You received almost an immediate response; you didn't even had time to regret sending the text.

coolskeleton95: FREAT NOT HUMAN, I COULD TASTE THAT YOU REALLY MADE A COMMENDABLE EFFORT.

coolskeleton95: YOU DID IT WITH THE VERY BEST OF THE INTENTIONS AND THAT'S ENOUGH.

You sighed.

You: Thank you Papyrus.

You put your phone down, and hurried help with the orders and bake muffins because Cinnamon bunnies had already ran out.

Blueberry muffins were your favorite thing to bake. You were extra careful with the instructions this time.

"Do you need help with the frosting?" Becky asked.

"I'm good. When I finish this I will clean the tables."

When you finished, you took the order of several tables with teenagers on them, they all seemed to be on a date.

You felt kind of nostalgic. Nobody had actually been interested in you since college, and god knows that did not end well.  
You knew worrying about that kind of things was petty. Wasn't it? Considering that a few months ago you were broke and nearly homeless.

Now you had a stable job, a small apartment and a chance to start over.  
You looked at Becky, and sighed softly. She was chatting with a couple of guys after she got them pink strawberry infused coffee.

You were glad to be able to work and to live.  

On top of that, you were lucky enough to meet the coolest skeleton ever. You felt your phone vibrating.

coolskeleton95: HELLOU HUMAN, HOW IS YOUR SUNNY DAY GOING?

You: My Sunday is going great Papyrus. :D

You: But not as great as you.

 

* * *

 

When you arrived home the first thing you did was to untie your hair, and then you threw yourself face first into your bed.  

The phone in the house wouldn't stop ringing, but you didn't want to answer, nor did you have the nerve to unplug it.  
This was the reason why you tried to spend as much time as possible at work. But the effort was useless, wasn't it? You could never let everything behind.

   
You let the phone rang as you clutched your pillow burying your face in it. There was no answer from Papyrus in your cellphone.  Had you gone too far with the message?

 

* * *

 

 

It was Tuesday, and Papyrus had stopped by the coffee shop every day.  
He wouldn't drink anything; he would just sit on a table and read the puzzles and comics out loud for you.  
He attempted to explain you how he solved the Sudoku, but you never really got it.

"I have never been good at math." You used to say because you were afraid he would run out of patience, but he didn't.

You ended up asking a lot of questions about his puzzle hobby, and he was excited to be able to answer. It was easy to miss the fact that he was really clever due to his other personality traits. He was excitable and loud, but also naïve and fun, and those attributes spoke louder that his cleverness. 

 

* * *

 

Friday came, and you were waiting in front of the coffee shop after your shift.  
You touched your hair nervously; you had let it loose for this special occasion.  
 It was easy to wait for the first half an hour. You tried to convince yourself that he was late.

You couldn't help but think he had decided not to go out with you in the last minute. Why would he want to take you out in the first place? You were plain awful. Zero redeeming qualities.

Time went by.  
You had already waited for an hour, and there was no trace of Papyrus. Zero messages or phone calls.

It was getting incredibly cold, and the fact that you decided to wear a dress wasn't helping.  
You felt ridiculously overdressed. You were such an idiot. Why would a monster so incredibly caring as him would want to date you? Maybe he was just being kind with you. Maybe he just pitied you.

You started walking home with a steady heaviness settling in your chest; you hadn't felt like that in months.  
Suddenly you heard a distressed skeleton running towards you.

"Papyrus!" You squeaked.

"HUMAN! I AM SO TERRIBLY SORRY, I KNOW I HAVE NO FORGIVENESS."

He was a bundle of nerves, well…at least metaphorically

"Are you okay Papyrus? What happened?" You inquired

"I AM LATE BECAUSE…BECAUSE…" He seemed to be holding himself back, "I NEED TO TALK TO YOU HUMAN…"

He was stuttering, nothing good could come out of this and you knew it.

"But are you not hurt?" His safety was your major concern.

"HUMAN YOU ARE VERY KIND, WORRING ABOUT ME. I AM NOT HURT. REDARDING OUT DATE I…"

"It's fine" You hurried to say since he was having trouble finding his words, "I know you wish for us to talk, but I don't really want to be talking in the middle of the street so, do you want to come over? My apartment is near here"

You felt something was wrong the whole time you walked in silence. 

You apartment was small and a bit cramped. Your bedroom had a huge bed; the mattress was in fact so big it did not let room for anything else. Aside from that, the kitchenette, your bathroom and little living room were sufficiently well distributed.

"WOWIE! HUMAN THIS PLACE IS REALLY NICE YOU EVEN GROW YOUR OWN VEGGIES AND FLOWERS!"

You smiled at the compliment. You had a row of flower pots with different kinds of plants and cherry tomatoes growing in front of the window in the living room. Your flowers and tomatoes were some of the small things you took pride in.

"HUMAN ALLOW ME TO TELL YOU ABOUT SOME COMPLEX FEELINGS" Papyrus said suddenly as he looked you in the eye.

Oh boy, this was going to be either extremely good or extremely bad.

Papyrus continued "FEELINGS LIKE THE JOY OF FINDING A PUZZLE PARTNER!" Papyrus held your hand "HOWEVER HUMAN I NEED TO BE HONEST AND STAY TRUE TO MYSELF"

You braced yourself because you knew what would come after that statement. You had heard it all before.  

"I DON'T THINK I CAN RECIPROCATE YOUR ROMANTIC FEELINGS." He said as he cupped your hands in his tenderly.

You were not head over heels for him, but it still ached a bit. You got turned down in the first date! Within a week of meeting!

You had just settled a new personal record.

"It's fine Papyrus, I really appreciate your sincerity" you said as you stood up, grabbing a bottle of water from the refrigerator.

"HUMAN I THOUGHT YOU WERE GOING TO CRY AND WE WOULDN'T BE ABLE TO REMAIN FRIENDS ANYMORE."

You laughed nervously. "Well, I've been rejected many times, but you were really kind. Why would I be upset with you?"

"HAVE PEOPLE BEEN MEAN TO YOU HUMAN?" Papyrus seemed surprised.

"Yes they have, but I think it happens all the time, especially when you are unlikeable and a failure like me." You were nothing but a failure. 

_A failure. Failure. Failure. Failure. Failure. Failure. Failure. Failure. Failure. Failure. Failure._

Old memories flashed in your head.  You could almost hear the voices.

_"You don't deserve to be here" "Useless" "Let the people who are worthy just take your spot" "You don't matter"  "Scam" "Quit" "You let them down" "You are such an idiot!"_

M  a  k  e    t  h  e  m    s  t  o  p.

"PLEASE DON'T SAY THAT ________. LOOK AT ME" Papyrus voice interrupted your vicious flow of thoughts, "YOU ARE NOT BREATHING PROPERLY! ARE YOU ALRIGHT?"

You were not alright, you felt dizzy and cold.

"I want to lie down" You said in a small voice. You were embarrassed Papyrus had to see you like this. Why did you even have to mention that?  Your breath was out of control, and you couldn't stop thinking.  

Papyrus helped you reach your bed, you sat on the border.

He tried to comfort you, but you didn't allow him. "I don't want to talk about it," you said harshly, but then you softened it up "It's not your fault Papyrus; it's just that I remembered something really painful."

"LET'S NOT TALK ABOUT IT AND THE PROBLEM MAYBE WILL GO AWAY ON ITS OWN." You couldn't tell if he was being serious "WHEN I AM UPSET I LIKE BEING READ TO, ESPECIALLY BEFORE BED TIME. DO YOU WANT TO TRY?"

"Oh, Papyrus it's almost midnight!" You squeaked, "I understand if you don't want to, or if you feel uncomfortable with it, in which case I could call you a cab, but…hum… Would you like to spend the night here?" you said the last bit with a quiet voice.

"Am I being super weird?" you asked more to yourself than to him. You just didn't want to cause him any trouble.

"NOT AT ALL. I WANT TO STAY UNTIL YOU FEEL BETTER!"  

 You allowed Papyrus to borrow one of your pajamas'. He choose your Adventure Time themed one.

 

* * *

 

"ALL IS READY AND SET. WILL I BE STAYING IN THE COUCH?"

"I can take the couch, it is fine" you said marching towards the living room.

"WOULDN'T IT BE BETTER IF WE BOTH TAKE THE BED?" He suggested nonchalantly.

"Would that be okay with you?" You didn't want to make him uncomfortable.

"OF COURSE IT IS OKAY. IF YOU FEEL UPSET AGAIN I COULD BE OF ASSISTANCE."

"Thank you Papyrus. Hum, for putting up with me"

You went to get a glass of water before going to bed. When you returned Papyrus was looking around.

"YOU ARE QUITE MESSY _____. ALSO, YOU HAVE A LOT OF BOOKS"

"Yeah…I don't read them anymore. I don't…feel like it"

"IN THAT CASE, DO YOU WANT ME TO READ FOR YOU? IF I DO THE READING YOU CAN LISTEN TO THE WONDERFUL CONTENT BUT WON'T HAVE TO DO ANY OF THE WORK! MY SOLUTION IS VERY CLEVER! NYEEE HEE~" he stopped for a second and then added, "I HOPE I AM NOT ENCOURAGING YOU TO BE LAZY."

You smiled. Despite everything he was still as nice as ever. "I would really like that Papyrus" you muttered already tucked in your side of the bed.

 He picked a heavy book. You were surprised by his choice.

"You picked a tough one" You said.

"I LIKE THE COVER AND THE TITLE" He cleared his non-existing throat and started, "Though _all our knowledge begins with experience_ , it does _not_ follow that it _all_ arises out of experience…"

You were amazed by the way he modulated his voice; you realized he was taking this incredibly serious.

He continued, and before you knew it, you had fallen asleep.

You did not wake up when he got into bed with you.

 

* * *

 

 

Next morning you wake up because you feel your cellphone vibrating under your pillow.

You had several messages from Papyrus.

coolskeleton95: MORNING HUMAN.

coolskeleton95: ARE YOU UP ALREADY?

coolskeleton95: SORRY I HAD TO LEAVE! BUT I LEFT USEFUL STICKY NOTES ALL AROUND YOUR APARTMENT! NYEHEHE!

coolskeleton95: HOPE YOU HAVE A GOOD DAY! AND DO NOT DOUBT YOU ARE A GOOD FRIEND AND A GREAT HUMAN

(NOT AS GREAT AS ME, BUT CLOSE)

coolskeleton95: BECAUSE OF THAT, (FREAT NOT) IT IS NOW MY DUTY TO CURE YOUR HEARTACHE (SINCE I CAUSED IT) (SORRY HUMAN)

(NO CANOODLES FOR YOU, JUST PLATONIC CANOODLES, PLANOODLES)

coolskeleton95: I MIGHT BE THE ONE THAT GOT AWAY, BUT I WILL PERSONALLY HELP YOU SETTLE FOR SECOND BEST.

BD

coolskeleton95: (YOU SAW THAT? TURN YOUR PHONE TO THE RIGHT. THAT'S ME WEARING SUNGLASES AND SMILING AT YOU)

NOW I MUST GO, I HAVE TRAINING.

coolskeleton95: WOWIE!! I AM SUPER EXCITED TO TELL EVERYBODY THAT I SLEPT WITH A HUMAN!!, BECAUSE IT WAS MY FIRST TIME SLEEPING WITH ONE.

You are so puzzled by Papyrus' intents to fix your love life that you forget to tell him that he might want to rephrase that last sentence before he tells anybody.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for being patient with the awkward reader. You know who will be introduced next chapter ;D *megalovania intensifies*


	3. Spooky Scary

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! I hope I won't disappoint!

Papyrus was not lying. He had actually left a ton of sticky notes all over your place.   
You hadn't overslept, and you were amazed by the amount of energy you had that particular morning.

Of all the notes Papyrus left your favorite one was in the kitchenette: "GOOD, BETTER, AND BEST! NEVER REST UNTIL YOUR GOOD IS BETTER AND YOUR BETTER IS BEST!!!"

You looked at your undersized kitchen and sighed. Were you ever going to be able to have breakfast with someone in such a cramped space?   

You sighed again as put on your coat and left for work.  

* * *

 

Your place was within walking distance from the coffee shop, so you could take your time and enjoy the morning sunlight.

Suddenly you heard footsteps behind you. You turned your head expecting to see a passerby, but nobody was there.

You clutched your bag and kept walking.  
Your hands started to sweat. Getting mugged was not uncommon in mixed parts of the city.  Ebott was a city in which humans felt free to take what was not theirs because nobody put up much of a fight.  
Rates of violence had increased since monster kind was liberated.

Your thoughts only fueled your paranoia. You started walking as fast as you could.

You kept telling yourself that could make it, and before you noticed it you were just one block away.

The footsteps seemed to get closer and closer to you until they stopped all of a sudden.

"t u r n   a r o u n d."

Suddenly, a smiling skeleton.

 Oh! Thank god, a monster. You smiled back, but your relief did not last for long.

"you seem a little blue today buddy, are  you okay?" He said in a deep voice as he got dangerously close to you.

You wanted to ask what did he meant by that, but you couldn't open your mouth.

You started to panic as you noticed that you could not move your limbs either.  

What was this? You tried to focus on your breath.  
This had to be another misunderstanding right?  
You were sure a monster would never hurt you. Would they?

This had to be magic, but you were not familiar with this variety. Your mind immediately recalled Becky's soothing touch on your arms, and this did not resemble her magic at all.

The skeleton was smiling, but his eye sockets were devoid of light unlike Papyrus' eyes.

He talked again. "listen pal, two things are going to happen. first, you are going to tell me who you are."

Why didn't his grin faltered if he was clearly mad at you?

He continued, "second you are going to explain me why papyrus didn't make it home last night."

His grin only seemed to widen.

"i hope I will like enough your answers."

As soon as you were able to move again you thought of running, but something deep inside you knew it was a bad idea. Instead, you tried to collect yourself.

"My…hum, my name is ______, and I moved here a few months ago…" You intentionally avoided any details of the reason that made you move. New found home Ebott sweet Ebott.  
"I am…nobody." You said in a quiet voice, but he didn't seem to be buying what you were saying, so you tried to explain further. "I meet Papyrus and hum Al? Hum A-Alphys l-last week, P-papyrus ha-has been visiting the coffee shop I work in …"

He interrupted you.

"papyrus doesn't even like coffee"

"I know. H-he doesn't like coffee, we s-solved the pu-puzzle section of the newspaper, and he liked it, so he r-returned the n-next day. I-I've seen him for a w-week now"  

He didn't seem happy with your answer.

"and you were so enamored with him that you had to take him home with you isn't it? so you are one of the kinky freaks that desperately want a one night stand with a monster? huh?"

"No!" you rushed to say. "You don't understand! He a-asked me o-out o-n a d-da-date! But in the end…he regretted it a-and I invited him o-ver because…"

"because what?" He interrupted again.

"He wanted to talk to me, t-to tell me that the d-date w-was a bad idea, that h-he was s-sorry h-e c-couldn't return my f-feelings"

Finally his gaze softened.

 "sounds like him"

"Then we slept together, l-literally, i-it was l-late and I in-invited him to stay o-over"

"why would he stay over?"

"I w-was really u-upset, h-he wanted to make sure I was fine. H-he e-even read to m-me"

If you focused on your breath you knew it would be fine.

It had to be fine. You tried to remember Papyrus' voice last night, and the sound of the pages being flipped as you drifted to sleep.

"look kid, i come back from work to an empty house and i just…" he didn't finished the sentence "you were the last person to see him okay? where is he now?"

You knew that! You actually had evidence! He had sent you tons of messages all morning! He said he had to leave because of training. All you needed to do was take out your phone and show him! Everything was going to be alright.

"He sent me a message saying he was going training, just let me…" You said as you reached into your purse sighing with relief.

"what are you going to…? s t o p." You couldn't even process his words properly as every single muscle in your body went completely stiff.

It hurt. It hurt really bad. You couldn't see properly, everything was blue and bright and blurry. Your chest was burning. You didn't even notice the moment you had fallen down, now your cheek was pressed against the sidewalk.

You started panting. Since you couldn't move at all your chest couldn't expand, and you could barely get air into your lungs.

_Help_

And somebody came.

With a purple flash you were lifted from the ground and gently held by sticky silk strings.

"Ahuhuhu~, it's great to see you Sans. My employee is just as surprised! You just left her breathless."

"Boss! Miss  Muffet!" You could barely articulate as you panted pitifully trying to get in as much air as possible.   

You noticed you two were standing in a purple spider web several meters above the ground. Miss Muffet gently put you down as she descended herself.  
She glanced at you apologetically before she shielded you with her own body, standing between you and Sans.

"What are you doing here dear Sans? Don't play fool now, did the spider eat your tongue?" She asked him with a wink.

"why don’t you ask her what was she going to take out of her purse? a gun? _a knife?_ she was the last person to see papyrus and i swear if we don't find him…"

She put a finger on his mouth to silence him as she turned to face you.

"________, deary. Can you show us the thing that you were going to take out of your purse?"

You pulled out a pink cell phone with trembling sweaty hands.

 "Now now, ________. Didn't you say that Papyrus went training? Now, big brother, why don't you use that big boned head of yours and call Undyne to ask her where he is?"

The skeleton reluctantly pulled out his cell phone.

Miss Muffet had her hand on your shoulder and she pated you slowly. You tried to focus on the touch of her hands on your back and not in the erratic beating of your heart.  

"heya Undyne, me? not much. oh I see. so he is still there with you. could you tell him to dropp by muffet's when you two are done? thanks, se ya'"

"Oh deary, turns out you almost choke my employee for nothing. Must be so embarrassing"

You hid behind Miss Muffet as she laughed scornfully at him.

Your breath had barely become steady, and your hands were still shaking.

"Why don't you two come inside so you can apologize properly Sans?" She suggested.

He grunted and started walking slowly.

* * *

 

You walked in and the first thing you noticed was that Becky's absence.  
You rushed to the counter and put on your purple apron. You had always liked the uniform, it was a nice color and it had little black spider webs sewed onto it.

You started by washing some cups, but your hands were so shaky you dropped them obstreperously.

"Oh! Deary. I do appreciate your attempt to work, but in your state all of our tableware is going to get broken"

"I'm sorry." You quietly said as you rushed to pick up the broken pieces, but a ton of small black spiders rushed to help you. You couldn't help but smile and thank them

Miss Muffet gave you and indulgent smile "Go sit for a while."

You sat in a nice table beside a window trying to focus on the sun warming your skin.

"heya."

Oh god.

"that went off to a bad start, huh?"

"I'm used to it" Your voice was much better now that you were not cornered in an alley.

"sans, sans the skeleton" He grinned in your direction as he extended a boney hand.

You shook it shyly. He was warm.

"I'm ______" 

"i know, your first meeting with papyrus wasn't good either"

God. Couldn't he cut you some slack? "Why would he tell you that?"

"he's my brother, he tells me everything."

Oh. That made sense. That's the reason why he was in such a hurry to find Papyrus? His brother had been out all night with an unknown person, in an unknown place. You were familiar with the feeling. An empty house. Silence and dread followed by the discovery that a loved one was missing.

It was clearly your fault wasn't it? You went all weird and Papyrus just had to stay with you. You needed to apologize, but how?

You noticed Sans was staring at you mildly curious. Had you just zoned out and were staring at him too? 

You coughed and tried to return to the conversation."Did he tell you that I mistook him for the grim reaper the first time I saw him?"

Yeah, real smooth.

Sans laughed.

"yeah. he actually insisted in researching the whole thing." He sounded proud.

"No way…" You felt your face flushing at the thought.

"yep." He seemed to be teasing you on purpose.

You dared to look him in the eye for the first time since you had both entered the coffee shop, two familiar white dots had taken the place of the terrifying blackness you had seen in his eye sockets.

"he likes me to read him books about the surface." He meet your gaze and you could tell his iris' grew in size and brightness every time he talked about his brother, "when he doesn't understand something or when something hurts him he wants to know more about it, that's just…"

"That's very Papyrus." you completed the phrase.

"that's why i gotta do what I gotta do." He said in a quiet voice, more for himself than for you.

"YOU NEED TO DO WHAT SANS?"

A tall handsome skeleton busted trough the door.

"OH! YOU TWO HAVE ALREADY MET EACH OTHER? WOWIE! HUMAN, IT IS MY DUTY TO INTRODUCE…"

Miss Muffet interrupted Papyrus "You might want to talk with your brother first dear Papyrus" She laughed softly as she hid her smile behind her hand.

"WHY IS THAT?"

"Well, you see…"

Miss Muffet calmly explained to Papyrus what had happened in the morning.  
You were expecting Sans to yell back and forbid Papyrus to return to the coffee shop again. But it was Papyrus who started scolding Sans.  
Sans' eternal smile was relaxed, you could tell he was just glad to see Papyrus safe and sound even if he had to put up with his tantrum.

"…I'M TELLING YOU THAT THE HUMAN IS DELICATE! HAVEN'T YOU FELT THEIR SOUL?"

What?

"yeah we gotta keep going bro, remember you promised to help me wash all of my socks today"

"DID I? YOU ARE SO IRRESPONSIBLE! WHAT WOULD YOU DO WITHOUT ME? I'LL TELL YOU, YOU WOULD DROWN IN A PILE OF DIRTY SOCKS"

Papyrus stormed out of the shop…again.

"welp, that's my call. nice to meet ya kid."

You felt his smile towards you was a little too forced. 

"Well that was interesting wasn't it?" Miss Muffet added as she stared at your uneasy expression.

"Thank you" You simply said.

"What for deary?" Miss Muffet chuckled.

"Everything." You felt if you tried to explain every little thing you were thankful for, you might start crying.

_Thank you for having me here, and taking me in when nobody would._

You didn't say it out loud, but she understood.

* * *

Your shift ended quickly, but before you two closed the store you received a familiar visit.

"H-hi! D-do you r-remember me?"

"Of course Alphys! I'm sorry I never texted you…" You played nervously with your hair.

"T-that's okay! About the tea party I mentioned…"

"Get in deary~, so we can organize everything" Miss Muffet invited her as she happily finished emptying the cash register.

Alphys wanted a really elaborated themed party. With the amount of ornaments, beverages, baked goods and service Alphys wanted, you doubted the final price was going to be within her budget.

You were right.

You had also noticed Miss Muffet struggling to reduce costs. You could recall the lack of flowers to decorate the shop this month, and the inflated price of magic infused goods. She was in no position to offer her any discount.

Muffet bid you farewell, as you two started walking towards your apartment.

"Well, I guess I'll just have to ask Sans to ask Grillby…" Alphys sighed.

That name…Grillby resonated in your head. That name had make Becky incredibly uncomfortable when Papyrus mentioned it.

"Oh you know Sans because you know Papyrus right?" That connection had to be made just in your head you idiot.

"Y-yeah have you met Sans?" She seemed to be a little sweaty all of a sudden.

"Well…yeah, hum, kinda." You said in a quiet voice as you played with your fingers.

You tried your best to explain to her the incident that you had got yourself into this morning.

"Oh my god, are you okay?" She said in awe, obviously concerned for your wellbeing.

"Yeah, not even a bruise." You tried to reassure her giving her a smile and a thumb up. "Sans didn't actually hurt me, he just… hum, held me down?"  

She still seemed concerned, so you continued."Sans was just worried about Papyrus, it was my fault."

"No, it wasn't." She rushed to say "Sans should just have called me or my wife if he was in trouble. But when it comes to Papyrus he just…acts first and asks questions later" Alphys finished saying with a preoccupied expression.

"I still want to apologize" You insisted, trying to soothe the uncomfortable moment.

"You are kind, but please don't blame yourself okay?" Alphys said as she put a scaly hand on your shoulder in a motherly gesture. "I don't condone this kind of behavior but…"

Alphys stayed quiet for a while, you wondered if you should say something, as she seemed clearly nervous.

"Well, I might as well tell you,s-shouldn't I?" She stuttered again "Papyrus was kidnapped within our first year in the surface."

_What?_

You could barely imagine it. Why would that happen to such a caring monster?  

"Yes, I know. They were planning to dust him and sell his remains online. You know…monster parts and remains are quite…popular among certain people…."

"Did they…?" You couldn't even finish the question.

"No, Sans got to them on time. He swore he wouldn't let that happen again. The incident didn't really affected Papyrus, but it did affect Sans as you could see. I'm sorry you had to bear with that."

You could already feel tiny tears prickling in your eyes, but you two stayed silent until you reached your apartment.

You took a deep breath. "Well, this is where I live, but I guess if I invite you over, someone is probably going to track me down and kick my ass so..."

"Oh my gosh, don't say that!" She tried not to laugh.

"I really want to apologize to Sans" You muttered again.

"Well, how about I give you his phone number?" She seemed a little bit apprehensive, but you appreciated the gesture anyways.

"Thank you Alphys."

* * *

 

You debated for hours what should you do with his number. The idea of actually calling him made you feel incredibly uneasy, so you decided to play it safe and text him instead.

You: I'm sorry.

Oh crap. You should've introduced yourself first right? What the hell were you doing?  
_Please do not answer._

You felt your phone vibrating almost immediately.

Sans: hi sorry, i'm sans.

Really?

You:  I'm _____ and I'm serious.

Sans: are you serious?

You: Yes.

Sans: i don't get it. are you serious or are you sorry?

You didn't want to answer that.

Sans: don't like a good joke?

Sans: who gave you my number anyways?

You: A little bird gave it to me.

He delayed to answer, so you tried to explain yourself further.

You: I wanted to apologize because of what happened this morning. It was my fault that Papyrus was missing, and I promise it won't happen again.

Sans: i nearly choke you today, and you are apologizing?

You: Yes?

Sans: you are a weird one.

Sans: you remind me of someone.

You: someone good?

Sans: yeah.

Sans: unnecessary apology accepted.

Sans: I THE GREAT SANS THINK THAT THERE WAS INDEED NO NEED TO APOLOGIZE IN THE FIRST PLACE.

Sans: I AM THE ONE THAT NEEDS TO APOLOGIZE FOR NEARLY HARMING YOU HUMAN!!!

Sans: BUT DON'T WORRY I, THE GREAT SANS, WILL MAKE IT UP TO YOU BY TAKING YOU OUT ON A DASDFGHJKLN.

You: Sans?

Those brothers were going to be the death of you.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Skeletons only want to socialize, but I don't think we should...


	4. Because we need the eggs.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delay, this chapter is quite long. Thank you for all of the comments and kudos and hits! I still can't believe it. I hope you enjoy the chapter.  
> EDIT: I edited this chapter for grammar and coherence. I see that rushing the chapter is not as good as i thought? So from now on I will delay a little bit more on updating. Hopefully I will do a better job. I can't thank you guys enough for the 1000+ hits and the 100+ kudos. I don't even know what to reply to the kind coments. Just wow.

Wednesday free day.

You had tied your hair in a tall ponytail as you cleaned your excuse of apartment.

You tried to keep yourself as busy as you could. You didn't want to think or remember anything.  
You had established a simply routine for cleaning and forgetting; first sweeping, then mopping, and finally doing laundry.  
Mental note: Do not bleach work uniform this time...

You were watering your pansies and golden flowers when your phone buzzed.

Becky: I heard you had a Sans incident. Care to talk about it?

Was she mad or just worried?

You: It was nothing…just a misunderstanding, as always.

Becky: What did he even got mad about this time? Jeez.

You: He was just worried and misinformed about Papyrus being with me.

You could see Becky writing an answer and deleting it, this went on for several minutes until she finally replied.

Becky: Please be careful around him. If you have trouble, do call me! Okay?

You: Thank you for worrying about me.

 _I don't deserve it_ you thought. What else could you say?

* * *

 

You didn't have a stove at home, so you were unable to cook in your own apartment. You settled for junk food or plain frozen meals most of the time.  
That particular morning you were craving something greasy, so why not indulge yourself?

As you walked towards the grocery store you remembered your last encounter with Alphys. You realized she was probably still searching for a place to celebrate her wife's birthday. 

You had an idea, but you doubted whether or not so send her a message. Would it be too invasive?

In the end you couldn't help it. You were already typing away.

You: Alphys? Hi!

You: Have you advanced in your attempts to organize the party?

You were having a tasty slice of pepperoni pizza in the fast food section of grocery store while you texted.  Alphys delayed a bit in answering.

Alphys: Not actually, I've never done anything like this. It's her birthday and…I wanted to do something nice for her…but…you know. U__U

You thought the little face was cute.

You: I was thinking that maybe you don't need a place! Maybe you can just throw the party in your house. Have you thought of that?

Alphys: I don't think I could organize the party in my house she is really sharp, so she would notice, but a friend's house would be plausible. I think.

You: Nice :DD I can help with the snacks and the dinks ;D

Would she be comfortable with you there? She barely knew you!

Alphys: Would you really do that? :O

You sighed with relief.

You: Of course! I'm not usually good at things, but I love cooking!

Alphys: We can go grocery shopping to get the implements you need.

You smile and spend the rest of the week writing down recipes. You decide you won't risk doing any overly fancy dishes in case you screw up, for the main dish you would just prepare a simple quiche. Maybe some deli meat sandwiches too.  

You agree with Alphys on the day and hour of your meeting. You await impatiently for Sunday.

* * *

 

You stood in front of the main grocery store of Ebott running your hands trough your hair and picking your forearm. Had you arrived too early?  
You hear footsteps behind you, and instantly assume its Alphys.

"Hi there Al!" You turn around to greet her warmly.

"heya."

You froze. Instead of Alphys' familiar face, a smiling skeleton in sweatpants greets you.

You stare quizzically at the odd writing on his t-shirt.

気にしない。

You can't understand it, but you like it anyways.

"kid? you okay?" Sans asked mildly curious.

You finally managed to mumble an answer."Y-yeah, I'm fine, s-sure. Have you seen Alphys?"

"she will be join us in a while, got stuck with the decorations. shall we get started ma'm?" He cleared his non-existent throat, and gesticulated suggesting you to take the lead.

"Y-yeah let's go." You were incredibly nervous. You wondered if he was still mad. "I-I've made a list."

"you're a smart kid huh? good."

You started walking towards the diary aisle.  
You looked back to see if Sans was following you, and he actually was. When he noticed you were checking on him he waved his hand to you. He looked so carefree…

You noticed a clerk staring at you for no apparent reason. You gave him a little nod and an awkward smile. 

You checked the egg boxes that were within your reach, but the big box you needed was on the upper part of the damn shelf. Naturally you tried to reach for the eggs standing on your tiptoes.

You heard a familiar chuckle behind you. "lemme help you there buddy."

How was he going to help if he was shorter than you?

Suddenly, you felt magic surrounding the egg package you were trying to take.

 _No, no, no, no._ You didn't want his magic to hurt again, so you dropped the box of eggs. Unfortunately you also lost your balance, and in your desperate attempt to regain it, you pulled the shelf with you as you fell.

It was a really heavy shelf, but you didn't even have time to get scared. Your muscles tensed and your eyes shut as you braced yourself for the impact.

But it never came.  
You heard the ominous sound of the shelf crashing against the floor and dozens of eggs cracking, but you were at least ten feet away from danger.

Sans seemed to be sweating and breathing heavily. Both of you stood in awe, unable to break the silence.

"Sorry" You muttered. "It was my fault."

"hey come on now, stop right there pal." He panted.

"What? It's true, you just took me for surprise" You tried to give him a reassuring smile.

"my magic scares you doesn't it?"

You didn't have the nerve to answer that.

He sighed. "look, i can't change what happened the other day. i got no excuse for that, but i can promise you something. it will never happen again"

He offered you his hand to help you up. You notice for the first time he is wearing white gloves.

"you must know that i hate making promises, but when i do… i surely fulfill them."

He winked at you.

"so, how ´bout we start over?"

You took his hand, it was warm and steady. You were ready to give him a proper answer when…

"What the fuck is going on here?" You heard the clerk you'd seed before followed by the manager.

They were both utterly horrified by the mess.

"Who pushed the whole shelf of goddamn eggs?!" The manager shouted before turning his eyes to Sans. "I bet you were the one who did it, you filthy…"

You stood quickly in front of Sans, and rushed to speak. "I did."

"Well, you'll have to pay for this!"

You didn't even bother to look at him; you grabbed Sans by the arm and started running towards the exit.

"Hey! You two! Come back!" You heard the distressed voices of the clerk and the manager.

You turned around just in time to see the clerk slipping and falling on top of the manager due to the slippery floor full of egg. Their faces were priceless and full of yolks.

You couldn't stop laughing. That was so wrong!

When you reached the parking lot you closed your eyes and held your stomach as you howled with laughter. Sans was practically wheezing.

"you just pulled somethin' outta some action movie."

"Dude, I just ran, there were no explosions or anything, but still! Shit! We need to go back and pay for all the mess." You really wanted to go back and apologize for the, but the manager didn't seem too fond of Sans.

"don't worry, I know they will be able to _manegg_ the situation"

His joke only fueled your laugher until you struggled again to catch your breath.

"you liked that? thought you didn't enjoy jokes."

"Oh I do enjoy jokes, believe me, but I only do when they are _eggceptionally_ good."

"you are killing me here."

His smile was genuine and you liked it.

* * *

 

You had to go buy in another store, and since you didn't owned a car you had to take the bus. The other big grocery store was in the city's outskirts.

It was a small store, but the clerks were friendlier.

And oh surprise, this time you could easily grab the eggs off the shelf. You looked at Sans and gave him a thumbs up.

"what are the eggs for anyway?" He asked curiously as you two wandered around the store.

"I'll make a quiche." You said smiling at the ground. "I used to eat a lot when I was a kid. My mother used to scold me for dumping the entire ketchup bottle on top of it."

"oh." He seemed interested in that. You were kind of gross weren't you?

"Now, to the meat aisle." You announced. "And finally the bakery aisle."

You pushed the cart playfully. "Did you text Alphys to tell her we switched stores?"

"oh crap."

He called Alphys while you bagged the groceries, then he insisted on carrying the bags.

"welp, i think it's easier if we just meet alphys at tori's" he said as you two walked out of the store.

You stop abruptly. "Wait, Tori's as in Toriel's house?"

"yes?"

"Actual queen of monsters Toriel?"

"yeah, hurry up"

"Oh my god! I'm not wearing something appropriate! Look at me!"

"pal, it's just tori don't sweat it"

"She is the actual queen of monster kind! Do you think I can go change clothes real quick?" You didn't give him enough time to answer."Oh jeez. Forget it, we need to assemble the food and all, and we haven't even started the cake!"

"buddy, it's okay, you look fine to me."

"I look fine to you?" You chuckled. He was kidding right? Well, you could joke too."Oh look there's something on the ground!"

"what? where?"

"Your standards Sans."

He looked at you suspiciously for a second, and you almost regretted making the joke, but laugher followed.

"come on, give me a break".

After that you walked in silence.

You stopped walking for a second; your head was suddenly killing you again. Why would that be? You had been popping aspirin like candy the entire morning.

"are you alright pal?" Sans almost placed his hand on your forehead, but he retrieved it on the last minute.

"Yeah, just a headache. Been having them all morning" You sighed as you rubbed your temples.

You two kept walking in silence, but Sans seemed to be uncomfortable this time.

"i know it's better if we just leave everything behind, but i want to tell you somethin' about my bro."

"Is it about the Papyrus incident?" His eyes widened in surprise "Alphys told me."

"she did huh?" He raised a brow. "welp, now you know why the craziness got to me."

"I'm sorry about it" It's all you could say. You didn't want to imagine how Papyrus had suffered through the whole kidnapping experience. "Papyrus deserved so much better when you reached the surface."

He laughed. Why was he laughing? Was he mocking you for prying into their lives?

"no, no it's not like that. i just thought you and the kid are very similar."

"Your kid?" You inquired.

"god no, not my child." He said as he laughed some more. "frisk, our ambassador. I wish you could look at your face right now, just the thought of my bro being in pain troubles you."

You huffed."Well, have you met your brother? He's been nothing but…good to me. It's kind of nuts that someone can actually be that kind and naive. I just felt the urge to take care of him." You couldn't help it, you were smiling.

"there's that face again. you talk of monsters as if you were talkin' 'bout family."

You felt your soul silently humming inside of your chest.  

_It's because they've been like family these past months Sans._

That's what you truly wanted to say, but you didn't.

* * *

 

"Alphys! Good to see you! Nice decoration! Good job!" You said cheerfully as soon as you entered the beautiful house of the queen. The place was roomy, and well furnished. Vibrant warm colors predominated in the ornaments.

And for your delight, the queen had several pots with huge golden flowers.

There was a large table already set and decorated with red flowers of different kinds, the rest of the house was full of fairy lights and colorful origami cranes.

"You think so?" Alphys said, a little bit unsure of herself. She looked lovely this evening; she was wearing a polka dot navy blue dress.

"Of course!" You reassured her. "Where is the queen? Should we get started with the food?" You smiled as you started unpacking the groceries.

You heard some snoring. Sans was laid down on the couch taking a nap. Perfect. You got closer to check on him. You noticed he had what seemed to be eyelids (?)  
You kinda wanted to pry more on his sleeping face but duty called you.  

"Tori went to pick up Frisk from school, but don't worry she will be coming soon, and I don't think she will mind if we start early." Alphys lead you to the kitchen and got started on assembling the sandwiches while you started with the quiche.

You hummed as you mixed and before you noticed it was done. It turned out pretty good.

Should you get started with the cake batter? Before you could decide on anything you heard someone coming through the kitchen door.

"Oh! I believe we have not been introduced before." Her voice was soft and mellow. "My name is Toriel, and this is my child Frisk."

You couldn't believe they were standing before you."T-the ambassador and the qu-queen T-Toriel? Oh my god? I've seen you guys on TV." Was that even an appropriate thing to say in the first meeting? "My n-name is _______.  Your majesty allow me to tell you that I am a big fan of your books! "

Toriel laughed gracefully, and gave you an indulgent smile."Oh, nice to meet you ________ is that so?"

"Y-yes y-our highness, if I'd know earlier on that you would be here I'd brought my books to g-get an authograph!"

This time Frisk laughed too.

"Oh dear, it's all right you can call me Toriel"

"Really?"

"Indeed."

"Oh, please check on the quiche I made. I'm sorry, this must have been a bit invasive. Alphys insisted on me to use your kitchen and I just went for it."

"It's fine dear, my friends' friends are mine too." You felt a warm wave of relief.

"WHO IS THE FRIEND OF THE HUMAN?!"

"Papyrus! It's been a while!" He hugged you a little bit too tight.

Alphys interrupted everybody. "S-she is coming! Everybody hide now!" She was already hidden inside a closet.

You realized you didn't even know where to hide in that huge house. Everybody rushed to their spots and you stood there hearing ominous footsteps rushing towards the doorstep. How would she be like? Oh god you were the only human on the party. Was she a lizard like monster like Alphys?

You felt a small tug on your shirt.  
Frisk was literally dragging you over to the back of the couch.

"BABE!" The door busted open violently.

"Surprise!" You all managed to yell cheerfully.

"Oh jeez babe, you didn't have to…" The tall fish lady seemed flustered and content.

"It's been a while since we all met and I thought it would be nice if…" The mermaid lady hugged Alphys so tight that she lifted her off the floor. You couldn't help but squeak a bit. She proceeded then to put Alphys down and shower her in kisses with a tenderness you had never seen before.

She turned to you with a huge grin. "You must be ________."

"Y-yes." You were speechless. You were expecting a chubby, lizard like monster, not a really strong fish.

"Name is Undyne, and Alphys has talked about you. You are working at Muffet's aren't you?" God, her teeth seemed quite sharp.

"Y-yeah?"

Undyne gave you a toothy grin before laughing out loud. "Oh man! Your face has been all over the Undernet in the past few weeks."

"U-undyne!" Alphys scolded her shyly.

"What? C'mon babe you gotta tell her about it!" Truth to be told, she seemed excited about whatever Undernet was.

Toriel interrupted firmly. "My dear, I think it is better if we eat first and talk later."

"Yeah! I'm starving" Undyne chanted childishly.

You noticed all of the food was already displayed on the table. Your quiche, the sandwiches, and a small cake with uneven frosting. Toriel translated the ambassador talk for you. Frisk had baked the cake all by themselves. When you asked Frisk for the secret ingredient, they just giggled and signed: DETERMINATION.

There was room for everybody on the table.

You took your place between Frisk and Papyrus. You were glad there were no uncomfortable silences, even with you there, everybody started chatting lively.

"Oh jeez _______. This is good" Undyne smiled after she downed a huge bite o quiche.

Was it?

" THIS PIECE OF EGG CAKE IS INDEED TASTY, HUMAN! EVEN MY BROTHER SEEMS TO BE ENJOYING IT." Papyrus' comment made you turn your eyes towards Sans, who has dumping an ungodly amount of ketchup on top of his slice of quiche.

You giggled and he winked at you.

"Thank you f-for a-all of t-the h-help ______" Alphys said as she firmly held Undyne's hand.

You were in a room surrounded by people praising your food, and thanking you for being there. Your eyes watered a little. Why were you such a crybaby? You coughed to try and hide your silly trembling voice.

"No, thank you guys for having me. I barely know you and…"

Toriel rushed to correct you."Nonsense, dear. We can see that you are truly a kind person even in this sort time we've shared."

 _Were you really a good person?_ _Were you…? W  e r e  y o u  g o o d ?_

"…seen?"

"Huh? Sorry." You apologized. You had zoned out yet again. Undyne was talking to you.

"Jeez, I just asked you if you have an Undernet account."

"No, not at all. It's a monster hum…safe cyberspace isn't it?"

"YES IT IS. BUT YOU CAN GET AN ACCOUNT WITH A MONSTER INVITATION."

"Y-yeah, I-I didn't ask you if you wanted a-an account, I-I can g-generate a c-code and s-send it to you as an invitation."

"Babe! Non of that nerd stuff matters now! Just let me show her the posts!" Undyne begged.

Alphys just smiled apologetically as she indulged her wife. Undyne sat next to you. To be honest she was intimidating. But most of your nervousness banished when she started showing you some kind of blog entries where you featured.

You didn't notice the moment in which Sans switched places, but now he was sat right next to you.

_ 'Integration getting better? Human spotted working at a monster owned business!' _

_'12 pictures that will restore your faith in mankind'._ That post featured you and Muffet cleaning the shop after a long Friday, you were wearing your purple spider apron.

You swiped to the next title: _'Have Humans got their eyes laid on boss monsters?'_ and then _'Human/Monster dating? Scandalous!'._ You could find a short video of you walking with Papyrus outside the store and one picture with Sans. Someone managed to take a sneaky picture trough the shop window the day that you had the incident with Sans.  
 If you didn't know better you could've probably said you two were on a date.

The last post title was almost unreadable: _'H01! CUTE HOOMAN NO MOR ALLEGIEZ_ ' and featured some kind of dog with a wig. (?)

Somehow, you managed not to laugh. There were actual pictures of you that monster costumers had sneaked to take. Jesus.  
On one hand it was just funny, but on the other, why were monster so happy over such a silly thing? Maybe because humans and monsters had still not accomplished a functional integration in society? You really thought that after five years on the surface things would be different. To think that monster inclusion was still a struggle made you uneasy. But then again, most things were a struggle for mankind, weren't they?

"Oh look a video was posted a few hours ago!" Alphys pointed out as she swiped down on the app.

"On the **#Human** tag?" You asked incredulously.  

You clicked on the video, and everybody seemed to squeeze together to watch it.

The video featured you, oh, and Sans. You were running away from a puddle of eggs and shells with a furious manager shouting behind you.

You looked clumsier than usual. Oh god, were they going to be mad? You should've just paid for the damage, but you ran away like a coward and a thieve! Oh god.

Your hands were cold, you were bracing yourself to be pushed out of their lives.

"Oh man did you saw that!" Undyne was hyped. If you thought her toothy grin couldn't get bigger, you were wrong. She was elbowing Sans.

"sure thing i did." Sans casually answered "i was there."

Toriel had to pacify Frisk a little."Oh my child, don't laugh that hard at that poor _manegger_ "

That only fueled further the laughter in the room except for Papyrus and Undyne.

"YOUR MAJESTY, PLEASE."

Frisk demanded you to high five them. You did, but you still didn't quite understand why.

"Oh, my dear. That store is known to be not so kind with monsters, so my child Frisk is especially happy you stood up for Sans like that. First taking the blame and then walking him out of there safe and sound!" Toriel almost wanted to clap.

Sans seemed quite embarrassed to be honest.

"They usually charge us double tax and follow us around the store just to cheek we don't steal anything." Undyne sounded more defeated than angry.

Oh boy, you knew that unnerving sensation. You knew what was like to be followed by a guardsman or a clerk prying on you, looking at you suspiciously. People staring mistrustfully at your hands, your pockets, your face…

"I'm sorry guys, I won't be buying there anymore" You decided.

"You don't have to apologize, my child."

"Papyrus you found a good one" Undyne said as she punched you affectionately (?) in the arm.

"NYE HEHE I TOLD YOU, THERE WERE GOOD HUMANS ON THE SURFACE AFTER ALL!"

You shrunk on your sit and blushed because you were not used to anyone praising you. You took a sip of your magic infused tea and suddenly the headache stroked back.

This time it was worse.

"hey kid, are you feeling alright?" Sans touched your shoulder this time. His warmth was soothing, but it was not enough to calm your discomfort.

 A sharp pain on your chest prevented you from speaking.

 You felt your head growing lighter and lighter until everything slowly faded to black.

* * *

 

_You hear a passing conversation._

"I TOLD YOU SANS."

"sorry bro."

"I TOLD YOU HER SOUL WAS DELICATE, AND YOU NEARLY DUNKED HER ON THE OTHER DAY."

"Well, we need to be more careful from now on, don't we?"

"yeah"

"Sans."

"…"

"Promise me you will be more careful."

"i will tori"

"Well, it's kinda not his fault that ______'s soul is a weenie soul."

"Un-Undyne!"

You dared to speak as soon as you could open your eyes.

"Guys?"

"Oh dear, I think it's better if we let her rest." Toriel said placing a comforting paw over your shoulder.

Everybody left the room you woke up in. Everybody but Sans.

"Sans, let her rest." Toriel stated firmly.

"it's my fault tori, let me watch over her tonight."

"Fine, just for the night. Keep her hydrated, alright?" Toriel said with a concerned voice and then she shut the door.

"I'm definitely a killjoy aren't I?"

Sans was not laughing.

"i didn't realize i had damaged your soul the other day…i…"

"Undyne is right, my soul is the problem. Not you."  You stated not daring to look at him in the eye.

Sans looked intrigued.

"You just startled me a little with your magic the day of our _incident_ , but my soul can't take a joke."

Sans was still not laughing.

You focused on the pain in your chest and held your hand firmly above it. You made a pulling motion and succeeded in summoning your soul.

A grey dull heart appeared before you.

"welp, that's not supposed to look like that."

 


	5. Time is nothing but our measure for change

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I swear this chapter was going to be posted earlier, but college is killing me and migraines too. They get so bad I can barely stand the light of the computer screen.  
> I feel better now so here it is chapter five. I hope is all good.  
> Thank you again for the comments, and 130 kudos, and over 1000 hits. It's like a dream honestly.

When you became aware of the inappropriate behavior you were displaying, your soul retracted back into your chest as if it had a mind of its own.

It ached.

You expected to see Sans' flustered face, but he just seemed to be full of questions.  
Maybe he was disgusted by your soul. If that was the case, you didn't blame him. Not at all.    

"I know it's not supposed to look like _this_ …" you murmured as you wrapped your arms around yourself.

_I know souls are supposed to be vibrant and warm, they are supposed to emanate life… not just be this dull useless thing._

"It's not the first time something like this happens though, I'll be fine." You tried to give him a reassuring smile. Then you got up from bed and prepared to leave. Was this Frisk's room? Were you out for a long time?  

"wow wait, whaddya mean? you are used to passing out on people's parties or what?"

You chuckled. "No…um…my soul is kinda…um…" You struggled to find the right words to explain your peculiar situation.

"you are hypersensitive to magic aren't 'cha?" 

"That's how you call it? The whole package of trembling, dizziness and headaches when one is overly exposed to magic?"

"yeah, me and al did a little _research_ on that a couple of years ago. apparently not all humans react the same way to magic." Sans was scratching his skull.

"A research?" You pictured Sans in a lab coat and glasses.

"well, it wasn't really a research… it was more of… "

"Don't tell me, it was another _incident_."You said crossing your arms.

"yeah, there was this douche bothering paps and…"

"And?" You rushed to say. You wondered if it was common for Sans to go around magically pinning assholes down to the floor.

"no, i did not harmed him if that's what you are thinking. i did have to, cuz the guy just plopped down as soon as my magic touched him." He seemed quite proud.

" That means my…situation is not that bad? I mean, sure as hell I can handle a little magic here and there. I am actually able to consume monster goods here and then without any harm…" You approached to the edge of the bed as you continued, "But I don't get it. Yesterday I didn't do anything directly magic related, then why…?"

"remember the shelf at the grocery store not actually fallin' on top of you? welp that was magic." He said shaking his hands to emphasize the last word.   

Oh...

You giggled "Don't give me jazz hands."

 "tori was right, we need to be more careful. don't mean to alarm you, but your soul's state is…"

_What is the word he might be looking for? Pathetic? Pitiful? Wretched?_

"worrying." He finally said. "it wouldn’t hurt if alphys took a look, ya' know just to be sure nothing is wrong."

He pated you lightly in the back, and your mouth went dry. "I want some water, you think I can…um…get some?"

His touch was soothing.

"yeah, let me bring you some."

As he opened the door, three monsters that had been nonchalantly eavesdropping bursted through it.    
They were all in their pajamas. Papyrus was wearing an Adventure Time themed one. It reminded you of the time he stayed at your place. Alphys and Undyne wore a matching Attack on Titan pajama.  

"Oh my god. I'm so glad you are alright! This is definitely something we can manage. Maybe your soul has a distinctive behavior? Maybe your soul's composition it's just plain different? Or maybe you've got a completely different new trait?" Alphys rambled on. 

"Trait?" you inquired.

"well, we used to classify human souls according to color and the dominant trait they presented." Sans explained, emphasizing the words _'used to'_.  You could see Alphys playing nervously with her thumbs because of this.

"WOWIE, HUMAN! MAYBE YOUR NEW TRAIT IS THAT YOU HAVE A SOFT CUDDLY SOUL!" Papyrus was lightly bouncing on his place, "SANS YOU SHOULD SOUL-CUDDLE HER TO MAKE HER FEEL BETTER!"

Sans snorted, "bro…" You could see him finally blushing, and you mimicked him at the thought of you two with your souls melding together.   

Undyne lost it. "PFFFF FUHUHUHU! Papyrus do you have any idea of what you just said?"

General laughed filled the house. You took a deep breath and relished the moment.

"Why are we laughing so loud dear children? I thought we were going to let our friend rest." Queen Toriel stood next to you giving everybody an unsettling glare. "Especially you two!" She said pointing towards Alphys and Undyne. "You have work tomorrow!"

* * *

After Toriel went into mom mode and send everybody to sleep, you insisted you were good to leave, but she was having none of that. She arranged the guest's room just for you.  
The sheets on the bed were clean and smelled of lavender. It wasn't long before you fell soundly asleep.

Also, it wasn't long before you woke up drenched in sweat and with a headache. You checked your phone, it was 3 in the morning. You tried hard to fall asleep again, but there was no success.

You started to get thirsty again, so you decided to grab some water. Toriel would not mind if you helped yourself right?

You tiptoed to the kitchen, and poured yourself a tall glass of cold water.

"hope ya' don't mind the company." A smoll skeleton exclaimed. 

"Not at all" you squeaked, barely managing to keep the glass in your hands. "You just gave me a mini-heart attack." The smug bastard seemed pleased. "But judging by your expression I can tell you just like to do that."

You took a huge sip, enjoying the freshness. You licked your lips.

"nah…" He said carelessly. His eyes were fixed on your lips.    

"What are you doing here? Couldn't sleep? I came for a glass of water, I was getting um…bone-dry because of the heating" You elbowed him playfully.

He chuckled. "yeah, couldn't sleep. i knew there was someone in the kitchen, came to take a look."

"How did you know there was someone in the kitchen?" Maybe it was because of his magic.

"felt it in ma' bones."

"I walked into that one." You half laughed as you took another sip of your water. 

Sans dropped himself on the couch. "welp, watcha wanna do?" He grinned lazily.

"Maybe watch a movie?"

He raised his brows "netflix and chill?"

"Oh my god, don't say it like that!"  
You doubted whether or not to take a seat. That was until he patted the spot next to him in the couch. You went for it.

"watcha wanna watch then?" He already was flinching between movies and netflix series.

"Back to the future sounds good?" It was one of your favorite films.

"never seen it before"

You fidgeted your fingers. You wondered if he was going to get bored because of your choice. You wouldn't blame him if he started checking his phone.

He started commenting on the film as soon as it started. "what doc is sayin' is that if he isolates the power of the plutonium he can create enough energy for the acceleration and thus the time travel, right?"

"Yeah, actually, the DeLorean is electric powered! The electric power is generated by a plutonium-fueled nuclear reactor. Then this power is transformed, of course, by an internal combustion engine for propulsion, and finally boom: Time travel. Cool huh?"

 Maybe you had spoken too fast, but Sans' eyes seemed to be beaming.

"so you were majoring in engineering or somethin' like that?"

You giggled. "Now, don't be silly. I've just seen the movie lots of times."

He laughed too. His voice was as deep, and he closed his eyes when he laughed.

You wondered how his cheeks seemed to move so freely when he laughed, and how his permanently fixated grin could stretch. Hell, you wondered how he was able to close his eyes to begin with. You wondered if his face would feel as smooth as it seemed. Unfortunately, all you could do was wonder.

He repositioned himself on the couch, and kept making little comments as well as asking questions.

_"so they are supposed to break the barrier sound to be able to time travel?"_

_"jeez i would give that Biff jerk a real bad time."_

_"that’s right McFly kid, you can't just screw with time lines and expect nothing to happen!"_

_"why are they friends with doc in the first place?"_

_"oh god not the mum."_

_"do humans always write their names on their underwear?"_

* * *

When the movie ended there was a brief moment in which the room went completely dark.

"Your eyes!" You exclaimed.  
His white pinpricks were shining in the complete dark room, and they were the only thing you could focus on. His eyes actually provided a faint dim light to the room. How was he even put together? He was actually illuminating the room.

You were mesmerized by Sans' gaze.

"oh shizz, do you want me to close them?" He sounded slightly distressed.

You knew what he meant by that. He was low-key asking if he was scaring you, if his eyes were scaring you.

"lemme just turn the light on" He sighed.

"It's not like that. I was just curious about your eyes" You hurried to correct.

_Oh no. Don't be a weirdo._

"Y-yeah, l-like, um, I mean…like you know they kinda glow in the dark, you know?" Well of course he knows! You are talking about _his_ eyes…he kind of _owns_ them.

_Idiot._

He relaxed his shoulders. "is that so?" He stayed quiet for a minute, and then he continued. "back in the underground, we had this place that was completely dark except for some bioluminescent flowers. if you like this" He pointed at his face. "you'd have loved that."

"Bioluminescent flowers as in echoflowers? Is that a thing? My coworker told me they were near sentry stations. Were you like…part of the military or…?" Now you pictured Sans in military gown. You thought it didn't suit him.

"yeah echoflowers are a thing, and nah, i was never part of the royal guard. i was a sentry cuz i liked to pick a skele-ton of random jobs, you know…to pass time."You recognized that tired look.

"I _do_ know actually. If I want to sleep properly at night, I need to end up exhausted. Otherwise I will just turn in bed thinking of…unpleasant things" You sat down in the breakfast bar, sipping another glass of water.

"same." He limited to say. He started glancing at your lips again.

You coughed and changed the topic.

"When you guys resurfaced the media went crazy. There were documentaries on every goddamned channel. Of course, they were not focusing on the important things, everybody wanted to talk _about_ monsters but nobody actually wanted them to talk."

He seemed to be really listening, so you continued.

"I ended up binging on those things; however I was disappointed when I discovered most of the things I had seen were bullshit. I thought echoflowers were definitely not a real thing."

"they are a real deal, but people wanted to dissect them and study them so much that the population started to decrease. Now echoflowers are marked as an endangered species…"

That was one of the reasons why mankind could not have nice things wasn't it?  

"I'm sorry. I didn't know that had happened. I see now, it's not a surprise you didn't actually want to mingle with humans huh?"

_Because we turn to shreds everything we touch._

"you are nice, but you don't have to apologize for every terrible thing that happens in the world. believe me buddy, that's just exhausting."

You sighed in response.

* * *

You keep chatting and figured that even though it was hard to talk about certain topics, and the conversation was kind of bumpy, talking to Sans was pleasant.

You took a deep breath and then took another sip of water. At least you had company this sleepless night.

Sans kept looking at your lips every time you took a sip of water. "i'm gonna ask something real weird, but bear with me"

"Okay?" What did he want from you? Maybe…

"can i touch your tongue?"

You snorted trying to keep yourself quiet. "Oh my god, human mouths are gross! Why would you want to do that?"

"cuz I've never actually done it. I mean I've shook hands with humans, I ruffle the kid's hair, and i'm pretty familiar with human anatomy. it's totally okay if you don't want to. i'm just curious, it's been said that your tongue is the strongest muscle in your bodies and i just kinda..."

"Okay, go ahead" You said playfully, as you stuck your tongue out in order to satisfy his curiosity.

You were incredibly nervous because his face was really close to yours. He started with an experimental poking on your tongue, and you found it increasingly hard to keep it steady.

"so you segregate saliva with this thing?" He has moving his fingers inside of your mouth in a rather suggestive way, but the only thing you could focus in was their rough texture.

"dnou, I acualy tu eit wip glambs o sunhing'" You tried to answer his question.

"what? did the skeleton got your tongue? or are ya' just tongue-tied?"

He stopped touching so you would be able to talk properly. "First of all, how dare you. Second, it's not my tongue the one that segregates saliva, it's some glands inside my mouth or something."

"fascinating."

How could he even say such a thing?"Fascinating? We are just a bag full of tacky fluids and hot air! Monsters are the fascinating ones, look at you for instance. Jeez, you are a magical living skeleton! That's some oxymoron shit right there."

Sans indulged you laughing at your childish ramble. "flattery will get you nowhere with this good ol' skeleton." He winked at you.

"Oh damn. I thought I had discovered the magic formula to seduce skeletons, you know, since I unlawfully seduced Papyrus" You said jokingly as you wiggled your hips.

"and then you unlawfully lured him into your bedchamber, don't forget that part."

"I always forget that part." You were trying hard to contain your laugher, so you wouldn't wake everybody up.

The bitter memory of your first encounter with Sans seemed now to fade into a bittersweet one.

"but seriously pal, i still don't understand how you even manage to get into so many trouble."

"It's always been like that." You didn't have time to wallow in self pity because Sans spoke immediately.

"well I'm glad it is, we wouldn't have meet you otherwise."

"Thank you Sans." Your smile was small, but meaningful.

"i've been awfully touchy tonight haven't i? Is there something you want to…ya' know, poke 'round?" He offered all of a sudden.

"Y-Yeah…um…I think I h-have something in mind."

* * *

"Does it hurt?" You needed to make sure you were not harming Sans.

"no, just go ahead. put it in already." He pleaded.

You started to put it in."Feels funny."

"yeah? cuz you are touching my funny bone."

"Really?" You were amazed. All your life you had thought the funny bone was a metaphysical entity or language invention but now…!

"nah just a joke, jeez pal. do you believe everything people tell you? keep going, you can put it in deeper."

"A-ah."

"what is it?"

"It feels wet inside."

"you can move it around if you want to, but d-do it gently please."

"What are you crazy kids doing in the kitchen?!" Undyne stormed in "Oh you two…FUHUHUHU! HONEY COME DOWN STAIRS YOU GOTTA SEE THIS."

 Undyne shouted as she prepared to take pictures with her cell phone.  
This was a really inconvenient moment for you.  
You had obviously felt curiosity towards Sans' eyes, so naturally you asked to poke a bit into them. He insisted in you to keep poking and then your hand just slipped? Okay it didn't actually slipped, but you wanted to feel what was it like?

Okay, let's be honest. There was no way to rationalize the fact that you had your hand stuck on the skeleton's eye socket.

"No, come on Sans! Help me get out of this!" You didn't want to pull to hard, you were afraid to hurt him.

"can't help. i'm bone tired pal, but how 'bout i help ya' put a nice face for the picture."Sans chucked as he stretched your cheek so it would look like you were smiling. A forced smile.

 "O-oh my…" Alphys rushed to the kitchen.

"Help." You tried to articulate properly, but Sans' hand pulling your cheek was not helping your pronunciation.

Alphys couldn't help it, so she started giggling.

"Oh, no you too! Come on! My hand is stuck in here!" You really wanted to get it out.

"heya Al" Sans greeted Alphys as relaxed as ever.

"Quit mo-moving Sans" Alphys said still giggling, but now trying to slide your hand out of him. She released you with an audibly pop.

"Oh man, what a morning" Undyne wheezed as she checked her brand new collection of embarrassing photos on her cell phone.

"Were you two up a-all night?" Alphys inquired a bit surprised.

"yep. al, i was wondering if you can actually cheek on her soul in your lab after work. it's kinda urgent."

"S-Sans y-you know I'm n-not a doctor! Well, I am a doctor in fact… B-But not _that_ kind of doctor!"

"come on al…i'm just asking ya' to take a peek."

"I'll try."

You didn't want to pressure Alphys. If she couldn't do it then it was fine. You were about to reassure her it was fine when Undyne shouted from the living room.

"Hurry up hun!"

They both grabbed a slice of white bread and held in their mouths as they stormed out of the house. For a second you felt as if you were part of an anime, it was surreal.

"hey there" Sans greeted the small human running towards him and lifting them in his arms.

The kid was jumping and bouncing from place to place. You didn't know it was possible to have that amount of energy in the morning. The child noticed you were staring and approached to you signing happily.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I don't…I can't…" You were embarrassed you didn't understand sign language.

Fortunately, Sans came to rescue you. "kid wants to know if ya' are feeling any better."

"Yeah, I'm fine, don't worry about this old grumpy human" You gave them a reassuring smile.

"I really need to get going. Miss Muffet needs me on time." You muttered more to yourself than to anyone else.

"I hope you are feeling a little bit better my dear. I would like you for you to at least have breakfast with us." You didn't notice, but the queen was already cooking breakfast in the kitchen. "You must replenish your energy my child, especially since you were not able to sleep last night." She glanced at Sans.

He shrugged.

Frisk was settling the table, and despite your complaints you were not allowed to help.  
The smell of freshly made pancakes made you feel quite nostalgic, but you couldn't identify the memory it evoked.

Before you noticed, a huge plate of cinnamon pancakes was settled before you. The pancakes were so light they almost melted in your mouth.

Queen Toriel, Sans, and Frisk were munching silently.

"Wait…where is Papyrus?" You asked.

Everybody shared a knowing smile. Sans checked the clock on the wall and started counting. "3…2…1."

"GOOD MORNING" Papyrus shouted as he entered through the main door. You were confused. You didn't even see him leaving the house!

"Good morning Papyrus, back from your morning jog I presume?"

"YOU ARE RIGHT YOUR HIGHNESS. OH" He looked at you. "OH ______. YOU LOOK TERRIBLE."

Silence fell upon the table, only to be broken by your snort. Sans seemed relieved.

"MAYBE YOUR BAD HABITS ARE RUBBING ON THE HUMAN! YOU ARE SUCH A BAD INFLUENCE SANS"

"come on paps, cut her some slack. she still feels a bit weak."

"HUMAN YOU NEED TO RELAX, MAYBE LAY DOWN A BIT. JUST A BIT YOU HEAR ME! AND PUT SOME LIME SLICES ON YOUR EYES LIKE THE TV PEOPLE DO."

"Oh Papyrus those are not lime slices. What you are supposed to place on your eyes are cucumber slices."

"THAT EXPLAINS WHY IT STUNG SO MUCH"

"Oh, Papyrus."

Could these people get more adorable?

* * *

"Oh my child, look at the time! We must to go."

"To school?" You asked as you finished your pancakes.

"And work." She added. She said she had been recently hired as a teacher assistant in the Ebott primary school.    

"You are a really busy woman your majesty."

"Toriel, please."

"Yes, um…Toriel" You corrected.  
Writing her cooking books, raising children, working as a teacher…not to mention she had to balance all of that with the pro-monster movement agenda.

You wish you had the energy to do half of the things she did.

"Have a great day Frisk." You said patting their head.

"hey kiddo. don't tell mom" Sans sneaked a monster candy into Frisk's pocket. They high fived afterwards.

You gave them both a fond look before waving Toriel and Frisk goodbye.

"I really need to keep going too Sans. If I miss work, they will probably be short on staff and that's the worst."

_I don't want to let anyone down._

"muffet will be fine kid, she's got like six arms. you've only got two. six is a bigger number than two ya' know?"

You felt something crawling on your back. You turned around but there was nothing that could be causing that feeling. It was unsettling.

"wut…?" By Sans' expression you could tell he was feeling it too.

Soon you realized a few monster spiders were climbing up your shoulder. You were glad to see them, but before you could cup them affectionately in your hands the doorbell rang.

You hurried to open and were surprised to find a bunch of spiders carrying a gift basket full of monster baked goods along with a note.

"I MADE THE MOST OUT OF MY MORNING JOG AND I STOPPED BY MUFFET'S TO LET HER KNOW YOU WERE FEELING INDISPOSED." Papyrus was a sweetie, as always.

The note was written in a curly purple font: Get better~. 

A simple statement.

On the back of the note you could read Becky's smudged writing: And answer your damn phone >:C

You put the basket in the kitchen counter, and started rubbing the belly of the fuzzy spiders.They were not quite like a common spider, they were much bigger, fluffy, and frankly cute.They liked to eat sugar cubes and clean up your mess when you fucked up at work.

You smiled as the spiders nuzzled you all over. You were ticklish!

Sans seemed to find your behavior odd. "i'm personally not a fan of anything that crawls on your back." He said.

* * *

Sleep finally got to you as you nestled with the two skelebros on the couch. Who wouldn't drift to sleep when cuddled into a cozy cocoon of blankets? You probably had one of the greatest naps of all times.

You woke up only to find Papyrus covering you with another blanket. What in hell did you do to deserve something like this?  

"Thank you Paps."

"HUMAN??? YOU CALLED ME WITH A PET NAME." He seemed puzzled.

Maybe it had been too soon? Maybe you made him feel uncomfortable again? Why were you like this?

"WOWIE!! THAT MEANS OUR FRIENDLY RELATIONSHIT IS ADVANCING REALLY FAST!"

You sighed with relief.

"WE ARE GOING TO BE BESTIES IN NO TIME."

"Who is going to be besties with whom?" Undyne exclaimed as she and Alphys entered the living room.

"ME AND THE HUMAN!"

"You and Frisk?"

"NO, ME AND THE OTHER HUMAN!"

"AW Come here you huge dorks!"

"U-UNdyne!" You tried to complain. She had lifted you from the couch and proceeded to noogie you.

"DO NOT NOOGIE THE SKELETON."

"A-Are you feeling any better?" Alphys asked, gesturing for Undyne to put you down.

"A bit tired, but I'm fine."

_I am familiar with restlessness, so don't worry about it._

"I would like to check on you now. I-If t-that's okay with you."

Sans had been snoozing on the couch, but he stood up the minute he heard Alphys words.

You told Alphys you' d feel much more comfortable if she checked on you once you were home.

* * *

Sans was looking around clearly impressed by your book collection, or maybe impressed by the mess in your apartment.  He seemed perticularly interested in your copy of _A brief history of time_.

You lead them to your room.

Your bed was big, but the room was not. Alphys had to curl her tail in order to fit between your mattress and the walls. She was as cute as chubby. Sans stood on the corner of the room monitoring the procedure and taking notes.

"C-Can you do that again?"

"Do what?"

"Pull your soul out?"

You placed your palm on your chest, and made a pulling motion clenching your hand into a fist. It was out once again, as dim as always.

Alphys furrowed her brows in concern.

"W-We have seen cases of magic hypersensitivity, but this is new. I had never seen this color in a soul." She rushed to take out something that looked like a scanner from her lab coat pocket. "I don't even know how are you capable of taking your soul out."

"You know what happens when you have worked out a bit too much?"

"Y-yes, one time Undyne insisted in me to go jogging with Papyrus and…" She sighed. "It was…um invigorating but exhausting."

"Then you must know that afterwards, you can _feel_ muscles you didn't even know you had. Because it hurts."

She nodded

"Well, I knew I had a soul the day it started hurting. It comes out if I focus on the pain."You knew you had said too much.

The only link you had with that thing was pain, pain, pain.

Alphys stood quietly scanning your soul with a knowing look on her eyes.  
You wondered if it was possible to even measure a soul, a thing your philosophers said to be infinite, immortal and truthful over all things.  
Was there a way to mend a soul?

_What's wrong with you?_

Alphys did not delay much on her analysis. Your soul soon returned to its natural place.

"I might be wrong, since I'm not a doctor, but your soul seems to be covered with something shield like." Alphys said while she sat on the edge of the bed with you.

"You mean my soul is not naturally this color?"

"N-No, at least I don't think so. Whatever it is, it seems to be built in self defense."

_Oh…that made sense._

"Thank you Alphys." You blurted out, not wanting to make eye contact with anybody. "I'm sorry for all the trouble guys. I mean…since I meet you …I've been nothing but cringey, my soul is a mess and you are under no obligation of dealing with my crap and…" You could go on and on forever on the reasons why you didn't deserve to have such lovely people by your side.  

"nope, you stop right there pal." Sans approached to the bed and wiped away your tears. You hadn't noticed you were crying. " i don't know what happened to your soul, but i can tell ya' that what you've got there is just prove that you've had it rough buddy."

 You couldn't stop sobbing despite his efforts.

"i'm not gonna tell ya' that if you smile and forget your problems will banish." He smiled as if he was remembering something before he continued. "because sometimes it's not enough, and life it's just pretty shit."

He put one of his hands steadily on your shoulder." just lemme tell ya' that you don't have to bottle it up."

You looked into his eyes and you knew that he meant every single word.

"you've got us kid" He leaned in to hug you. "you've got me."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wowie! If you're reading this, it means that you've read the whole thing. I'm impressed. Thank you again for giving this story (and this snobbish writer) a chance. Have a nice week, and take one on your way out. *slides you some monster candy*


	6. When life gives you lemon bars

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's been a while. Here I am! I'm sorry I left, college got shitty as you may know. I had to postpone my own writing in order to approve some classes. This a loooong ass chapter! Again, if you are reading this thank you for clicking and giving this story a chance! I still can't believe how many kudos we've got! We are drowning in love, god help us!

"I usually don't have breakfast at home. An old electric stove can only take you so far." You said while you fetched syrup to pour it over your fluffy waffles.

"well fam, i'm not sure it counts as breakfast when we are eating past noon." Sans yawned and stretched lazily.

"Sorry, my sleep schedule is as fucked up as me." You muttered apologetically.  
Your life seemed to be an uninterrupted sequence of 'allow me to make it up to you'.

"saaame." Sans blurted out giving you jazz hands. "anyway, you slept good didn't cha'?"

"I did, thanks to you watching over me last night." You fidgeted, "But…did you really have to play those vines full volume on your cell phone at 6 am?"

"what vines?" He said, as if he didn't know. 

"You know the one with the…" You wondered if that lame joke was going to be the first joke of the day.

"say it" Sans demanded, wriggling his non existing eyebrows.

"The trom _bone_ one…" You finally said, and sighed. "You set me up, you cheeky bastard"

"i guess i got cha thinking in bones all day" he said as he poured more coffee on your cup, " 's not really my fault, after all, you know what a skeleton's favorite instrument is."

"I don't know why people always go for trombone, I mean, it could also be the xyloBONE or the BONEgoes." You took another bite of your waffle.

You realized Sans had took out a small note pad out of nowhere. "Sans, are you taking notes?"

"come on buddy, keep going" He encouraged you comically.

You couldn't help but notice his hands were covered again in those thin white gloves; you wondered why did he always covered his hands.  
 His grin was relaxed, but his eyes were focused on taking notes. The pencil slid through the page quick and with ease, he was skilled at it, clean calligraphy and all. You wondered if he had been an avid student at some point in his life.

The alarm in your cell phone buzzed before you could ask anything.    
"Oh, work starts like five minutes ago." You rushed to gulp down the remaining coffee on your cup.

"you going?" Sans titled his head, looking quizzically at you.

"Of course! I already missed three shifts, on regular circumstances I would've been fired" You replied as you cleaned the table.

"yeah, if by 'regular' you mean _human_ shitty ass work circumstances then…" He frowned, but stopped almost immediately; perhaps worried he might've said something wrong.  

He scratched the back of his skull "oh, yeah sorry 'bout that, didn't mean to…"

"It's fine" you answered evading his gaze. He wasn't wrong.

You changed the topic nervously, "Are you sure we shouldn't have left more goodies for Toriel?" You said pointing to the half empty basket of spider goods resting on the counter.

"nah, tori loves to bake her own stuff" You heard Sans say, he was already resting comfortably on your couch.  Without moving a finger to help you clean the kitchen of course.

"you'd know that" He teased you, holding up one of your copies of _Magical Kitchen I_ by queen Toriel.

"She seemed so nice on the cover! I had to have it" You yanked the book off his hands, but you were not able to hide your embarrassment.   

"even though she got published, tori only sold a few copies" 

"I know. It was quite difficult to get."

"tori was pretty excited the release day, even though no one showed up for the book autograph sesion."

 

* * *

 

Hair and apron on point you rushed to the coffee shop.  
You were quite nervous for your return, even though your boss had authorized your small but necessary vacation.

You wiped your sweaty palms before entering the familiar door.  
Before you could apologize for your absence, a handful of spiders descended from the ceiling to greet you.

 You smiled affectionately, and this seemed to please Muffet, who greeted you just as warmly.

Becky ran and threw herself at you in a tight hug. "I was worried! Is it that hard to answer your damn phone?"

You were going to speak but she interrupted you, "Shush! Don't even start apologizing! I've told you hundreds of times we are friends! You can trust us with your problems! Being friends means we support each other in sickness and in health doesn't it?"

You giggled at her odd understanding of those words and wondered if she had heard them on TV.

You stared at both of their fond faces and decided to say "Thank you" instead of apologizing this time. Your chest felt lighter.  
 You were thankful you had people who took care of you for the first time in your life.

You then proceeded to clean and cook. You allowed a day of hard work to cleanse you from all worries. There was comfort in the feeling of routine settling in.

You would show how thankful you were by working extra hard!

As soon as the door opened you shouted a little too enthusiastically, "Welcome to Muffet's coffee shop and bakery! How can I help you?"

"Umm. C-Can I have a shot of espresso?" The little girl standing in front of the counter couldn't be older than 7 years old, and she seemed quite nervous to be there, "It's what mommy get's all the time!"

"You seem quite young for that amount of caffeine little lady. May I offer you today's special instead?" You suggested, getting on the other side of the counter so you could see her better.

"What's that?" She timidly asked.

"Pink smoothie and a spider donut." You chanted.

"Mommy just gave me 6 dollars"

"Oh deary it's fine, it'd be just 5 dollars~" Muffet took the money and returned the change while you handed the little girl the brightly colored donut.

The girl seemed intrigued by Muffet's appearance.

"Why don't you sit for a while and have it here? We wouldn't want you to drop it would we?" You said gingerly as you leaded her to the nearest table.  

"Why do you have six arms?" The girl asked to Muffet.

Muffet hesitated to answer at first, but then she noticed the girl wasn't afraid, she was curious.

"All the better to bake delicious things with, my deary~" Muffet answered, moving all of her arms to amuse the kid.

"And why do you have five eyes?" She asked again, this time more excited.

"All the better to see with, deary!" Muffet blinked several times with all of her eyes.

"Now child don't ask about her teeth, you know what comes next." Becky said as she delivered the swirling smoothie.  

"Annie! I told you not to go too far! I've been looking for you for almost 20 minutes!" A distressed mother entered the shop.

"I'm sorry ma'm I insisted she stayed with us for a while" You explained, the mother didn't pay much attention to you, she was focused on her kid.

She hugged her and rubbed her back. "I was worried sick! Don't ever do that to me again!"

You crossed your fingers and hoped for her not to make a fuss about the monster owned business.

"Mommy I'm fine!"  

You offered the nervous woman a coffee and sat with her while she calmed down.

When she finished her coffee she took a bite of the magic infused donut. She seemed surprised by the peculiar taste.  

"It's a shame we can't have this delightful pastries in our baking sale." She told you, acknowledging you for the first time since she entered the room.

"So you will host a baking sale?"

"Oh no I won't, it's nothing. It's just the Primary School baking sale this weekend."

"For funds!" the little girl said, "Mommy, do we really have to go? I hate Helen's lemon bars" She pouted.

You heard the two monsters behind you giggling.

"Annie don't be rude." The woman rubbed her temples.

"But mommy everybody hates them" her daughter said crossing her arms and frowning.

"Sweetie, please don't throw a tantrum in here. Now, be a good girl and thank the nice lady with six arms."

 

* * *

 

"Toriel is going to be there with Frisk." You blurt out, trying not to sound as excited as you were. "And I think it would be good for business" You added, sounding as persuasive as you could. You really wanted to convince your boss to do a colab with queen Toriel for the baking sale. The queen had to participate, it was mandatory for all parents with a child studying in Ebott's Primary School.

Muffet huffed and rolled her eyes…all of her eyes.

But you didn't take the cue, so you continued. "I already phoned queen Toriel! She says it's perfectly fine for us to team up with her! Think about the free publicity and maybe we even manage to… "   

Muffet interrupted you making a clear and serious statement: "I'd rather not to."

You remained silent, wondering what had done wrong this time.

"Kids are not very fond of her if you know what I mean" Becky said putting a paw on your shoulder, "And to be honest, I think they feel the same way about me."

You forgot, for a moment, the place you were trying to drag them both was going to be reeking of small children and overprotective parents. Maybe it wasn't the best place to take a spider monster.

"B-But there will be monsters! Toriel will be there!"

"As you may've noticed, we don't resemble Toriel very much…"  Becky muttered looking at the ground.

"No way children are going to dislike you!" You insisted, "You are both cute as hell!"

"A funny way to phrase it deary~" Muffet giggled covering her mouth, "We've had our fair share of experiences so, we definitely won't go, but if you think it will be good for business, why don't you go on our behalf?" She offered.

"Are you s-sure boss?"

"Absolutely. I trust you." Becky nudged her "I mean, _we_ trust you."  

 

* * *

 

It was time to close and Becky wasn't helping much, she was on her cell phone playing a video over and over again. You snickered and decided to indulge her.

"This is hilarious!" Becky smiled, the dim light of her phone illuminating her soft fur.

"Oh please, tell me you are not looking at the **#Human** tag on Undernet."

"Guilty as charged" Becky winked shamelessly. "Do you happen to know this heroic human?"

She showed you again the **#EggHuman** video that featured you and Sans running away from a messed up aisle.

"Well, long story short story I had another Sans incident"

"So you really are the egg human? The one in the Undernet video?" Becky covered her mouth in awe. "Oh. my. gosh."

"Told you~" Muffet came out of nowhere.

You saw Becky exchanging money with Muffet after that.

"I could recognize that voice anywhere~" She said.

You breathed deeply, a little bit of tranquility was reassuring after what had been one of the most agitated weekends of your life.

You were content. You really were content. How long had you gone without feeling that kind of joyous relief? 

_Thank you for letting me work and live._

"…going?"

"S-Sorry? Miss Muffet, could you repeat that?" You snapped out of it.

"Deary~ do you mind if we leave early today?"

"It's only fair boss."

Muffet had been leaving early the last few weeks. She also took two weeks of vacation last month. You wondered what the matter she urgently needed to attend was. And why was she dragging Becky along this time?

"LONG TIME NO SEE!" A cheerful voice surprised you from behind.

You were so surprised you dropped the cup you were holding. You shut your eyes expecting it to smash on the ground, but the cup stayed in place, floating. It was surrounded by an orange fluorescent aura.

"HERE HUMAN" Papyrus returned the cup right to your hands "I KNOW MAGIC SCARES YOU SO I DID IT SLOWLY!"

"Not your magic Papy, never your magic" You said still in awe "You are amazing, thank you."

You even manage for his to blush a little.

"NYEH HEH HEH! OF COURSE I AM!" You could swear Papyrus' sweater tied around his neck was flowing like a cape even though there was no wind "AS I WAS SAYING BEFORE I SAVED YOUR CERAMIC VASE: LONG TIME NO SEE!"

"Papyrus we saw each other like two days ago." Undyne said.

"TWO DAYS IS A LONG TIME WHEN YOU ARE AWAY FROM FRIENDS"

"Do you guys need something?" You asked drying your hands.

"W-We just got out of class we were hoping to get on time before you closed but if you are closing…" Alphys said.

"It's fine, don't worry! It's you guys, so it's all good." You rushed to say

"WE CAME TO VISIT."

"Out of class? Are you guys studying a masters or something similar?" You asked.

"Not precisely" Alphys said "I'm teaching a seminar on monster culture and this…uh…      c-cutie is teaching a creative writing class." Undyne held her hand tightly."Her love letters are the best."

"Babe you are a cutie too." Undyne was really tough and all but she was putty in Alphys' hands.  "Sometimes I get to go in my armor so nerds can describe it on their medieval AU! NGAHH!"   

You smiled at the blush on Alphys cheeks.

"Are you alright after the checking and all? I mean you passed out like out of nowhere" Undyne asked.

"I'm fine now, I…" You didn't really want to give the whole explanation.

Alphys noticed your predicament and helped, "She's got magic hypersensitivity."

"Damn, that sounds awful"

"I just have to be wary of direct magic contact."

A heavy silence overcame the table.

_Why are you always ruining people's fun?_

"B-but it's no big deal! Y'all can stop with the sad faces be-because I've got something for you Undyne!" You stood up and reached for a box under the counter.  "I didn't give you a gift on your birthday and I kinda ruined it in the end for everyone so…"

You placed it on the table. You were sweating nervously, first because of the awkward silence. Second because you weren't sure the gift was a good one…

"It's a Totoro onesie. I noticed your Totoro key chain and I figured maybe you liked it…and  I watched Ghibli films myself a ton of times when I was little and…"

Undyne immediately shouted, "BABE IT'S PERFECT"

"I a-actually have one, so n-now we can match!" Alphys was just as excited.

You imagined them both in their respective onesies.

"WOWIE MY BIRTHDAY IS NEXT I WONDER WHAT WONDERFUL HUMAN GIFT AM I GOING TO GET!"

"Come here you nerd! You never ruined anything you just made us worry. Since you are better, let me noogie you!" Undyne's grin was huge.

"THE HUMAN IS FRAGILE! DON'T NOOGIE THE HUMAN!"

 

* * *

 

As soon as you got home, you got started on the cider preparation for the event. It was quite late, but it needed to be done.

As you unpacked the fruit you'd brought home, you thought of your boss. Muffet had no secrets for you, since the first time you entered that door there was nothing but warmth and honesty. She even trusted you with her recipes and ingredients.

She advised you where to buy the best kind, she even cut a deal with a nearby human store owner to get fresh dairy products delivered every week. You admired her.

You couldn't stop thinking about her lately absence in the shop and her early leavings, you were worried about her. You wondered if you had done something wrong, maybe mingled in something that should've been non of your concern…

"so, whadda think of…"

You freaking jumped and landed on your butt with an awkward sound.

"Good god!"

"heya" Sans casually said.

"Heya? Just heya? That's what you say when you randomly break into people's houses?" You tried to get up far too fast and fell again.

"wow, sorry! don't get all worked up like that pal" Sans offered you his hand to get you back on your feet.

"How did you even…? Never mind." You guessed he got in with some kind of weird magic, you didn't want to give it much though.

"don't worry that's what asses are for, fluffed emergency landings."

"Well you wouldn't know! Because you don't have one" You pretended to be offended.

"ouch that was mean." And he pretended to be hurt.

"dropped you a few messages on your Undernet account, there was no answer so I wanted to come check on ya' "

"Do I have an account?" You asked while you picked up the fruit that had dropped during your landing.

"yes? people even tagged you on that **#HumanEgg** video, look." Sans took out his phone to show you, the Undernet post had already reached a hundred thousand views. 

"Oh my" You reached for your own phone to access the site.

"by the way undyne's pretty excited about the gift."

You saw Undyne had already changed her profile picture, it was a nice picture of Alphys and her wearing their matching onesies. You felt relieved, the gift had been a success.  

"I even have a friend request from Papyrus!" You said excited.

_How sweet of him!_

"he was the first to send you one."   

"Who is Aaron?" You asked, you also had a friend request. The profile picture shown was muscular and weird.

"trust me you don't want to know." Sans sighed, "whatcha doing by the way? what's the fruit for?"

"I need to prepare some spider cider for the baking sale tomorrow." You placed your phone in your pocket.

"ya' know the recipe of spider cider?" He seemed surprised.

"Miss Muffet taught me. It takes a long time to boil on my shitty stove but it works. Do you want to help?"

"oh buddy you got the wrong skeleton, Papyrus is the one that cooks." You took out your equipment and handed Sans a knife to cut the apples with, he got a little rattled so you offered a peeler instead "I used to cook" He continued after gripping it tightly, "when paps was young. really young. baby bones young. then he grew up, and Undyne started giving him lessons, so he does all the cooking now."  

He rushed the words out, evading details about his childhood. You could only guess.

"Must've been tough taking care of young Papyrus. I am an only child, but I had to look out for myself since I was young. My parents weren't bad, they were just…"

"busy."

"Yes."

You imagined young Sans feeding a baby Papyrus. Sans didn't seemed cheerful at all, his gaze got lost in you, so you rushed to say, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to, make you remember something painful."

"it's nice to uhhh how does papyrus say?"

"Share and care?"

Sans laughed lightly.  "yes, share and care. brings back memories." He started to peel an apple with great difficulty due to his gloves.

"Do you want to take your gloves off?" You said while you approached him to put your hands on his.

"w-wow pal, sorry but, huh you'll have to buy me dinner before you want me to get anything off"

You backed off quickly and let out a nervous laugher "Ha ha… I didn't mean that, I just thought you'd be more comfortable without those"

He kept peeling, evading your gaze "paps and I wear those to avoid incidents"

"Incidents?"

"to appear less threatening to people" He said flatly.

"I'm sorry you've had to do that.  If you ever feel comfortable enough, I want you to know you don't have to cover in front of me" You said giving him your best reassuring smile.

_Why are you like this? Your new friends drop by and you can only say weird crap to them… oh god. How embarrassing!_

"i…" Sans looked directly at you.

He was interrupted by your timer ringing.

"Oh, the berries have already boiled" You excused yourself, you had been too bold just yet.

"It's getting late, I should hurry. The berries have boiled, the apples are peeled I just need to dice them and process them together. Can you fetch me the cheesecloth there?"

You diced skillfully and pressed the juice out of all the fruit.

"Then I need to add the yeast starter and then simmer slowly. I simmer the cider so it has a nice balance between sweetness and tartness, and voila!"

Sans tilted his head listening to your dull explanation, his eyes were wide as if you were talking about something complex that required his full attention.  
You didn't usually enjoy having public during your cooking marathons, but having him talking and listening was amazing.

He helped you place the freshly brewed bottles of cider in your mini fridge, he wasn't careful enough so a drawing you had attached with a magnet fell.

"you are quite an artist" he mocked you.

"Don't be mean! It's from a costumer, a kid gave it to me. No arms and all, he drew it with his tail! He heard me talking about echo flowers and felt compelled to show me the true thing"

"my bad, it is so nicely drawn it belongs in a museum."

"Maybe so. I hope one day I can see a real echo flower.  I'm curious about many things, specially the size. Are they big? Like trees? Or small? Can I fit one in my hair?" You asked the last think joking.

"there are all sizes and kinds, you could fit several in your hair and I could find you in the dark, we could play hide and seek".

You smiled at the thought.

"i can't offer much information, Alphys might know more since she specializes in biology. all i can say is, not all underground flowers are as nice as these."

You wondered what did Sans specialized in and what did he meant by that.

"It's really late, do you want to spend the night?"

"nah, as much as your couch and i enjoy our torrid love affair, i've got work tomorrow."

You didn't know what was his job, perhaps a teacher in a nearby college? You pictured Sans in a sweater and big nerdy glasses taped to his skull.  
He sounded tired when he mentioned work.  

"i should actually get going"

"Please say hi to Papyrus for me"

"come now, don't be a grandma. you can do that yourself if you answer your Undernet messages"

 "I will if you promise to knock on the door before breaking in."

"hmmmm"

"Come on… I'll even greet you with a knock knock joke"

"deal."

He left, leaving you with tons of questions. Did he go to college? What was the Underground like? What is his job and why he doesn't like it?

Patience you thought, I _want_ to get to know him.

 

* * *

 

 _It's just a small event, it will end quickly._ You tried to reassure yourself as you entered the huge school building.

The garden was ample and decorated with fairy lights. Small stands were scattered around, each one was decorated in a colorful unique way. You could noticed it was the kids who had decorated them.

It was easy to pin-point Frisks stand; it was decorated with the same pattern as their favorite sweater and paper golden flowers.

You saw Frisk, you smiled relieved that you were finally able to sign a proper greeting. You signed enthusiastically, Frisk was just as excited.

"Were…mom…goat?" You signed proudly.    

Frisk laughed and you followed. Your sign language communication skills still had room for improvement.

They signed what you guessed to be a name and then kept going, "… to help her carry the pies."

"Who?" You asked directly, giving up the sign language for the moment.

They smiled again, signing slowly so you could catch it, "Bone."

"Papyrus?" you confirmed.

"No" they answered, "Small…joke…bone" you could make out.

"hey, i'm not that small am i?" you heard Sans' voice right behind you.

He was carrying an alarming amount of pies by himself, you couldn't even see him under all those pies.

"I thought you had to work today?" You huffed, as you rushed to help him with the big cargo of goodness. The smell was wonderfully sweet. 

"finished early. put a lot of back bone onto it" Sans said as he rubbed his shoulder. "like the decoration? i helped with the flowers."

"You made them?" You caressed the paper flowers decorating the stand.

"i even brought one for ya' " He took out a blue paper flower, you had never seen anything like it, "behold, an echo flower" Sans cupped your hand and placed the tiny thing on it.

"it is, it's only an imitation, but it's almost as good as the real thing ya' know?" He assured.

He then placed it on your hair, above your ear.

"T-Thank you." You said, after that you couldn’t keep your hands off your hair.

He closed his eyes and put his hands in his pockets, and leaned into you.

You saw Toriel arriving with even more appetizing warm pies "Oh, you could make it! I was starting to get worried about you _________," She pated your head.

"Thank you for the opportunity queen Toriel" you rushed to say as you helped her with the food.

"Oh dear, it's nothing. We are all glad to have you here." She reassured you as she carefully sliced the pies. Frisk was placing the slices on individual plates, clearly excited to be able to introduce their classmates to monster made treats.      

You set a small table annexed to Toriel and Frisk's stand, and braced yourself for the wave of people you knew were going to get in.

The director, an old lady with gray hair in a bun, took the microphone. A skinny young woman was rushing her to speak, so the director took a step forward and started. "We are proud to inaugurate the 36th open baking sale of Ebott's Primary State School, please ladies and gentleman give us a warm applause for the PTA association, they took care of logistics this year, and so…"

"Where is Sans?" You asked Toriel, mild concerned, but still clapping.

Toriel was focused on the director's speech, so she just pointed under the table. There was Sans, hood on, sleeping like a baby. You decided to take a quick picture of his sleeping face, you were dying to tag Papyrus in the picture. You could already imagine the comments: "SANS GET YOUR LAZY BONDOOGLING BONES OUT OF MY TIMELINE"

Since it was an open baking sale, local people started to arrive. 

Toriel was a bit overwhelmed by the quantity of people surrounding her stand, her pies were being quite a sensation since it was the first year a monster was included. Frisk seemed determined to make everyone taste Toriel's amazing pie.

"Are these magic infused?" Most moms would ask.

"No, although these were baked with fire magic, they are regular butterscotch pies made with surface ingredients." Toriel would encourage them to try them anyways. "If you want to try magic infused goods you should try some of the spider donuts" Toriel would add, sending the costumers right to you.

You made sure to give a small flier to every costumer along with a complementary shot of bubbly spider cider.

Sales seemed to be going great for everyone, a bit of brownies over here and carrot cake over there.  

When people started to dissipate, you couldn't help but notice that the ultra skinny woman from before was taking care of the stand next to you. She seemed uncomfortable at best, probably because her lemon bars were almost left untouched.

You snapped out of it and turned to Sans, who had already woke up from his nap, to offer him the last slice of butterscotch pie.

"hehe i love butts pie." He seemed still a bit sleepy, eyes half lidded and drowsy smile. Completely adorable.   

You snorted. You were just about to crack another joke with him, but heard a tray falling in your stand.   

It was the skinny lady shouting, "I already told you not to eat that!"

 She rushed to her kid, and took a spider donut off their hand.

"Helen not again…" someone muttered.  

"Oh she will apologize" Helen told you "I already told this little brat sugar is not allowed, but she just won't listen" She emphasized the last word by grabbing their arm and yanking it around.

"I… s-see Helen right? Is your child sick? Perhaps diabetic? I'm sorry" You blurted out, taken aback because of her sudden out burst

"Don't be ridiculous, she is fine. I just don't want her to get fat. That's why she should stick to her half cucumber for breakfast like we agreed." The kid was hardly fat. "How much do I owe you? She already touched the donut with her greasy fingers" she yanked their arm again.

"Mommy I…" The little kid tried to defend themselves, but they were shushed immediately.

Toriel looked horrified, but the other parents looked at the crazy mother with indulgence, as if this kind of scene was a normal daily thing.  

"just give the kid some damn cake" with one motion Sans took the hand of the child, preventing the mother from yanking it around again.   

"Excuse me? This is none of your business. Why are you even here I thought this part of the city was monster free?" Helen uttered completely offended.

"i'm family, and family is allowed today." Sans stood between the little girl and her mom.

"Well, you don't _look_ precisely like family."

Frisk wanted to intervene, but Toriel was holding them back.

Sans' eye sockets went dark "hehe fun thing to say coming from you. y' know I can almost see your ribs through your t-shirt? For a moment I thought you were also a skeleton monster!" Sans said with one of the creepiest smiles you'd ever seen on him.

"My word!" Helen's mouth was wide open. She crossed her arms and stomped forward, "I'll have you know I'm part of the PTA and I…"

"the pta? you mean parents to avoid?" Sans wasn't going to let this one go, "you shouldn't be doing this to your kid, especially when you are not completely honest yourself."

"Of course I am you nosy little sh-!"

"you see, i just looked at you, and thought 'wow that mom it all about natural stuff' i thought that until I saw your nose…"

A few laughs and gasps were heard. 

"Well you don't even have a nose!" She childishly answered, taking her kid by the hand again.

"fite me helen" Sans poked her angrily.

"I gladly will"

Helen was about to slap Sans when the old director intervened.

"Nobody is fighting anyone." the old woman firmly stated, "I'm afraid I must ask you to leave" She pointed to Sans.

"We'll all leave" You said, eager to show support.  

"I'll have a word with all of you at my office." The director sighed, rubbing her temples.

 

* * *

 

"I set her off, it's my fault. If anyone is going to get scolded it should be me" You were holding Frisk's hand for support, they seemed oddly calm.

"Well well well, why don't we sit down first before we start handing out guilt tickets?" The director motioned for all of you to take a sit while she put on her giant reading glasses. She cleared her throat, "Toriel, you know you are my star teacher, bullying cases have gone down since you took care of the assistant position. Inclusion has never been better thanks to frisk…themselves." The woman interrupted herself to use the right pronoun "Your family will always be welcomed here, however, we can't push things. I'm afraid I must ask mister uh…"

"Sans" Toriel said for him, since he refused to talk further.  

"To keep his distance from the school for a while" The old woman completed, "That includes picking up Frisk of course, I'm sure a month or two will suffice."

"Is there nothing you can do about it?" Toriel asked the woman just as calmly and firm as her.

"well, i guess i should be glad this incident wasn't reported to the _cops_ ma'm, you know, me being a creepy monster and all" Sans mocked sarcastically.

The grey haired woman sighed, "I know how difficult Helen can be. I apologize on her behalf. You must understand, we can offer guidance for parenting, but ultimately we are not allowed tell them how to raise their children." She said as she rubbed her temples again.

"yeah it's not like you could call social services ma'm" Sans said still pissed.

"Been there done that, boy I wasn't born yesterday" the director said with a knowing smile "Not enough evidence to do anything" she said looking at the ground.  

Sans sighed "welp, things are surely…"

"Difficult" The old woman completed.

"they always are" Sans finally said.     

 

* * *

 

The walk back home was silent.

You were still holding Frisks hand, you were the distressed one despite you age. They weren't particularly freaked out, they were just contemplative. You wonder what kind of situation a kid had to live to behave as stoically as they did during a crisis.

 Toriel broke the silence.

"I must tell you Sans, had you not intervened, I would have intervened myself." Toriel said, "Thank you for today, I hope the rest of the PTA learnt something."

" i hope so, i bet nobody likes her anyway."

"Did you taste her lemon bars?" Frisk signed.

"Did you mean the whole lemons-blended-with-graham crackers thing she had on her stand? Heck no!" You answered.

"they were probably as bitter as her."

"Helen? Was that her name?" You asked.

"Helen, more like _Hell_ en" Frisk signed proudly, that was followed by a high five with Sans.

"My child! Don't say such things! And Sans Don't you encourage it"

"c'mon tori, don't be sulking" Sans shrugged.

"Or should we say _skull_ king?"You added.

"Thank you for being the best mumster in the world." Frisk signed.

Toriel stopped to hug Frisk and Sans. It was a beautiful image, Toriel wouldn't give up on trying to raise Frisk as 'normally' as she could, even if that mean putting up with people like Helen. Sans wouldn't tolerate injustice, nor suffering wherever he went. He purposefully intervened to avoid Frisk having to witness how that woman mistreated her own child.  These people weren't even Frisks' biological family and yet, they were giving it all for them.

You stood there, wondering what in the world did you do to be able to witness such pure unconditional family love.

"ya' know, you are invited to the group hugs too, right kiddo?"   

Frisk pulled you into the hug.

Toriel was warm and soothing, like the sun after rain.

 

* * *

 

"Thanks for walking me home tonight."

"welp, here we are again after what was a fantastic day."

"I've had worse" You said cockily.

"have you?"

"Yeah, one time I dated this super handsome skeleton, he broke up with me on our first date and his brother got super pissed for some reason."

"when are you going to drop that?" He said with a face palm.

"NEVER"

"Oh wait, I'm going to drop it when he introduces me to second best"

"w-who?"

"You know, Papyrus told me he would introduce me to someone special to kinda make up for that incident."

"sounds like him" Sans shrugged and laughed.

You two went quiet for a moment.

"I wish I could stand up for myself like that."

"lots of practice i guess."

"I'll keep that in mind. I think you deserve this more than I do." You said as you leaned into Sans, and caressed his eye socket placing the paper echo flower inside of it. 

You smiled, he had a flower for an eye now. "It's a good look for you."

He left with a silly smile on his face; you never knew this, but he held the paper flower between his bare fingers for the rest of the night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for your patience! I will try my best to keep writing. Please take care and this time take a spider donut on your way out. ( ´･ω･`)_且~  
> I hope you have a wonderful week and only good thinks happen to you all, thank you again for being here!


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